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Face amount or stated value per share of preferred stock nonredeemable or redeemable solely at the option of the issuer.

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The maximum number of nonredeemable preferred shares (or preferred stock redeemable solely at the option of the issuer) permitted to be issued by an entity's charter and bylaws.

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Estimated period over which an employee is required to provide service in exchange for the equity-based payment award, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

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Period over which grantee's right to exercise award under share-based payment arrangement is no longer contingent on satisfaction of service or performance condition, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days. Includes, but is not limited to, combination of market, performance or service condition.

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Description of service or performance condition required to be met for earning right to award under share-based payment arrangement. Includes, but is not limited to, combination of market, performance or service condition.

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Fair value of share-based awards for which the grantee gained the right by satisfying service and performance requirements, to receive or retain shares or units, other instruments, or cash.

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Stockholders' Equity - Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($)		12 Months Ended
	Aug. 28, 2018	Dec. 31, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018	May 31, 2020
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Vesting description		. The RSUs awarded to officers and executive officers in 2019 and 2020 consist of a combination of awards with performance-based conditions and time-based conditions. Unless earlier vested under the terms of the RSU agreements, the RSUs with time-based vesting conditions vest evenly generally on the first, second, and third anniversary of the award. The RSUs with performance-based vesting conditions are divided into one-third increments, each of which is subject to vesting based upon satisfaction of certain annual performance criteria established at the beginning of the fiscal years ending December 31, 2019, 2020, and 2021 for the 2019 awards, and December 31, 2020, 2021, and 2022 for the 2020 awards, and which can be increased by up to 150% or decreased to 0% based on performance relative to the annual performance criteria, and further increased or decreased using a modifier of 80% to 120% based on CoreCivic's total shareholder return relative to a peer group. Based on performance achieved for 2020, the RSUs subject to performance-based vesting criteria were decreased by 47.9%, and were further reduced to the 80% modifier based on CoreCivic's total shareholder return relative to the peer group. Because the performance criteria for the fiscal years ending December 31, 2021 and 2022 have not yet been established, the values of the third RSU increment of the 2019 awards and of the second and third increments of the 2020 awards for financial reporting purposes will not be determined until such criteria are established.
Increase in vesting percentage based on performance relative to annual performance criteria		150.00%
Decrease in vesting percentage based on performance relative to annual performance criteria		0.00%
Common stock, par value		$ 0.01	$ 0.01
Common stock, shares issued		119,638,000	119,096,000
Preferred stock, shares authorized		50,000,000	50,000,000
Preferred stock, shares par value		$ 0.01	$ 0.01
Total intrinsic value of options exercised		$ 0	$ 500,000	$ 1,300,000
2020 Stock Incentive Plan
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Number of shares authorized for issuance of awards					4,700,000
Number of shares available for issuance		4,700,000
ATM Agreement
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Common stock, par value	$ 0.01
Common stock, shares issued		0	0	0
Minimum
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Increase decrease in vesting percentage based on shareholder return relative to peer group		80.00%
Maximum
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Increase decrease in vesting percentage based on shareholder return relative to peer group		120.00%
Maximum \| Common Stock \| ATM Agreement
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Common stock, aggregate gross sales price	$ 200,000,000.0
Other Employees
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Vesting period, continuous service requirement		3 years
Restricted stock based awards
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Fair value of restricted common stock units issued by CoreCivic to certain of its employees and non-employee directors		$ 20,900,000	$ 20,100,000
Decrease in vesting percentage based on performance relative to annual performance criteria		47.90%
Vesting percentage based on shareholder return relative to peer group.		80.00%
Allocated share-based compensation expense		$ 17,300,000	17,300,000	$ 13,100,000
Unrecognized compensation cost		$ 15,000,000.0
Remaining period for recognizing the unrecognized compensation cost, in years		1 year 8 months 12 days
Total fair value of RSUs that vested		$ 17,400,000	13,400,000	15,300,000
Restricted stock based awards \| General and Administrative
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Allocated share-based compensation expense		15,600,000	15,500,000	11,300,000
Restricted stock based awards \| Operating
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Allocated share-based compensation expense		$ 1,700,000	$ 1,800,000	$ 1,800,000
Restricted stock based awards \| Employees And Non Employee Directors
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Restricted common stock units issued by CoreCivic		1,200,000	900,000
Restricted stock based awards \| Employees And Non Employee Directors \| General and Administrative
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Restricted common stock units issued by CoreCivic		1,100,000	800,000
Restricted stock based awards \| Employee \| Operating
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Restricted common stock units issued by CoreCivic		100,000	100,000
Restricted stock based awards \| Officers And Executive Officers
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Vesting period		3 years
Percent of awards eligible to vest		33.33%
Restricted stock based awards \| Non Employee Directors
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Vesting period		1 year
Stock options
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Term of options		10 years
Stock options \| Minimum
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Vesting period		3 years
Stock options \| Maximum
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Compensation Cost [Line Items]
Vesting period		4 years