Subsequent Events (Details Textual)	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended										6 Months Ended
	Jul. 31, 2011 USD ($)	Jul. 03, 2011 USD ($)	Jul. 04, 2010 USD ($)	Jul. 03, 2011 USD ($)	Jul. 04, 2010 USD ($)	Oct. 01, 2011	Aug. 04, 2011	Aug. 03, 2011 ZAR	Aug. 03, 2011 USD ($)	Jul. 09, 2011	Jul. 03, 2011 ZAR	Jan. 02, 2011		Jul. 03, 2011 Contract Termination [Member] USD ($)	Oct. 21, 2011 Senior Notes Due 2021 [Member] USD ($)	Aug. 04, 2011 Senior Notes Due 2021 [Member] USD ($)
Restructuring Cost and Reserve [Line Items]
Revenues from terminated contracts		$ 407,817,000	$ 280,095,000	$ 799,583,000	$ 567,637,000									$ 16,300,000
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Principal Amount of Senior notes due 2021 exchanged with Senior notes due 2017															250,000,000	300,000,000
Subsequent Events (Textual) [Abstract]
Maximum amount of obligation of SACS guaranteed through the issuance of letters of credit		9,000,000		9,000,000							60,000,000
Expected reduced guarantees notified by SACS lenders								34,800,000	5,200,000
Discount to purchase shares under Employee Stock Purchase Plan through payroll deductions										5.00%
Share to be offered for sale to eligible employees				500,000
Number of bed leased as per the implementation of Realignment Plan						305
Number of bed owned under Desert view modified facility						643
Number of bed owned under Central Valley Modified Community Correctional Facility						625
Stock to be repurchased under stock repurchase program	$ 100,000,000
Number of shares of common stock outstanding											65,058,075	64,432,459	[1]
Number of shares of common stock outstanding							65,100,000

[1] Derived from audited financial statements.