Basis of Presentation

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2013

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Basis of Presentation

BASIS OF PRESENTATION

The GEO Group, Inc., a Florida corporation, and subsidiaries (the “Company” or “GEO”), is a fully-integrated real estate investment trust (“REIT”) specializing in the ownership, leasing and management of correctional, detention and re-entry facilities and the provision of community-based services and youth services in the United States, Australia, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Canada. The Company owns, leases and operates a broad range of correctional and detention facilities including maximum, medium and minimum security prisons, immigration detention centers, minimum security detention centers, as well as community based re-entry facilities. The Company develops new facilities based on contract awards, using its project development expertise and experience to design, construct and finance what it believes are state-of-the-art facilities that maximize security and efficiency. GEO provides innovative compliance technologies, industry-leading monitoring services, and evidence-based supervision and treatment programs for community-based parolees, probationers and pretrial defendants. The Company also provides secure transportation services for offender and detainee populations as contracted domestically and in the United Kingdom through its joint venture GEO Amey PECS Ltd. (“GEOAmey”). As of September 30, 2013, the Company’s worldwide operations included the management and/or ownership of approximately 73,000 beds at 96 correctional and detention facilities, including projects under development, and also included the provision of monitoring of more than 70,000 offenders in a community-based environment on behalf of approximately 900 federal, state and local correctional agencies located in all 50 states.

The Company's unaudited consolidated financial statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States and the instructions to Form 10-Q and consequently do not include all disclosures required by Form 10-K. The accounting policies followed for quarterly financial reporting are the same as those disclosed in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2013 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012. The accompanying December 31, 2012 consolidated balance sheet has been derived from those audited financial statements. Additional information may be obtained by referring to the Company’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting only of normal recurring items) necessary for a fair presentation of the financial information for the interim periods reported in this Form 10-Q have been made. Results of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2013 are not necessarily indicative of the results for the entire fiscal year ending December 31, 2013, or for any other future interim or annual periods.

REIT Conversion - GEO began operating as a REIT for federal income tax purposes effective January 1, 2013. As a result of the REIT conversion, GEO reorganized its operations and moved non-real estate components into taxable REIT subsidiaries (“TRS”). Through the TRS structure, the portion of GEO's businesses which are non-real estate related, such as its managed-only contracts, international operations, electronic monitoring services, and other non-residential and community based facilities, are part of wholly-owned taxable subsidiaries of the REIT. Most of GEO's business segments, which are real estate related and involve company-owned and company-leased facilities, are part of the REIT. The TRS structure allows the Company to maintain the strategic alignment of almost all of its diversified business segments under one entity. The TRS assets and operations will continue to be subject to federal and state corporate income taxes and to foreign taxes as applicable in the jurisdictions in which those assets and operations are located. As a REIT, GEO is required to make distributions of its REIT taxable income to its shareholders. Refer to Note 5 - Shareholders' Equity.

Divestiture of Residential Treatment Services - The operating results of Residential Treatment Services (“RTS”), which was divested on December 31, 2012, have been retroactively reclassified to discontinued operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2012. Refer to Note 8 - Discontinued Operations.

Change of Reporting Segment Name from GEO Care to GEO Community Services - The Company's GEO Care reporting segment previously consisted of four aggregated operating segments including Residential Treatment Services, Community Based Services, Youth Services and B.I. Incorporated (“BI”). The GEO Care reporting segment was renamed GEO Community Services concurrent with the divestiture of the Company's Residential Treatment Services operating segment. All current and prior year financial position and results of operations amounts presented for this reporting segment are referred to as GEO Community Services.

Fiscal Year - In connection with the REIT conversion, effective December 31, 2012, the Company changed to a calendar year from a fiscal year that ended on the Sunday closest to the calendar year end and changed its fiscal quarters to coincide with each calendar quarter. The third fiscal quarter of 2012 began on July 2, 2012 and ended on September 30, 2012, and is referred to as Third Quarter 2012. The nine month period of 2012 began on January 2, 2012 and ended on September 30, 2012, and is referred to as Nine Months 2012.