Business Segments and Geographic Information (Details 4) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2012	Jan. 01, 2012	Jan. 02, 2011
Revenues:
Revenues	$ 1,479,062	$ 1,407,172	$ 1,084,592
Detention & Corrections [Member]
Revenues:
Revenues	1,187,171	1,127,092	984,424
GEO Community Services
Revenues:
Revenues	291,891	280,080	76,913
International Services
Revenues:
Revenues	211,726	201,397	178,567
Facility Constructions and Design
Revenues:
Revenues	$ 0	$ 0	$ 23,255

Amount of total revenue for the reportable segments, including revenue from external customers, transactions with other operating segments of the same entity, and (gross) interest revenue. All considered to be "operating revenue" for purposes of the taxonomy.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 280

-SubTopic 10

-Section 50

-Paragraph 22

-Subparagraph (a),(b),(c)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8736-108599

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (FAS)

-Number 131

-Paragraph 27

-Subparagraph a, b, c

-LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy.

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration