Business Combinations - Narrative (Details)			3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	May 18, 2015 USD ($)	Feb. 17, 2015 USD ($) facility bed	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2016 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2015 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill			$ 615,433,000				$ 615,438,000				$ 615,433,000	$ 615,438,000	$ 493,890,000
Revenues			$ 566,579,000	$ 554,376,000	$ 548,350,000	$ 510,185,000	$ 500,127,000	$ 469,866,000	$ 445,945,000	$ 427,369,000	$ 2,179,490,000	1,843,307,000	$ 1,691,620,000
Soberlink, Inc
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Outstanding common stock acquired, percent	100.00%
Cash consideration	$ 24,400,000
Goodwill	$ 14,210,000
Soberlink, Inc | Technology
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Identifiable intangible assets, useful life	8 years
Soberlink, Inc | Customer Relationships
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Identifiable intangible assets, useful life	20 years
LCS Corrections Services, Inc.
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Cash consideration		$ 307,400,000
Goodwill		$ 107,398,000
Number of correctional and detention facilities acquired | facility		8
Number of beds In facilities acquired (more than 6,500) | bed		6,500
Acquisition related costs		$ 2,500,000
Aggregate amount of purchase price, maximum		350,000,000
Repayments of debt		$ 298,000,000
Revenues												55,500,000
Earnings												$ 8,500,000
LCS Corrections Services, Inc. | Customer Relationships
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Identifiable intangible assets, useful life		20 years
Soberlink Healthcare, LLC | Soberlink, Inc
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Loan provided	$ 2,200,000
Loan issued, interest rate	10.00%
Annual royalty fee to use any improvements to the existing technology resident	$ 1,300,000