CORECIVIC, INC. 2023 ESG Report
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About This Report
Introduction About This Report 02
CoreCivic is committed to consistent reporting on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics of greatest interest to our stakeholders. In CoreCivic's sixth ESG report, we update our ESG impacts, stakeholder engagement and progress against goals, as well as detailing our management approach to material topics.
We recommend that this report be reviewed alongside CoreCivic's 2023 annual report (Form10-K), most recent proxy statement, and our most recent shareholder letter, all available at our public filing reports hub. Unless otherwise noted, this report covers the fiscal year January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023, and it includes information about
CoreCivic, Inc. with select references to activities conducted by our wholly-owned subsidiaries.
This report has been prepared in accordance with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards: Core option effective January 1, 2023. To ensure disclosures are relevant,
CoreCivic conducts comprehensive stakeholder materiality assessments biennially. Disclosures based on GRI Standards are listed in the GRI Content Reference Index at the end of this report.
Our management approach to ESG reporting includes participation and review at many
levels of our organization. Authority for reporting is delegated to our vice president and chief ethics and compliance officer by the president and CEO. A cross-functional team works to collect disclosure data and provide updates to material topics. The report is reviewed by members of our senior management team. ESG reporting is overseen
by the risk committee of the CoreCivic Board of Directors, while each standing committee shares oversight of ESG topics consistent with the duties specified in each committee's charter. Questions about this report can
be directed to Mike Grant, managing director of investor relations at CoreCivic, at investorrelations@corecivic.com.
Table of Contents
Introduction Table of Contents 03
04 | 08 | 19 | 28 | 44 | 47 | |||||
Our Company | Our Services | Who We Are | Responsible Operations | Environment | Appendix | |||||
Message from Our CEO | Safe & Secure Operations | Diversity, Equity & Inclusion | Human Rights | Environmental Sustainability | Notable Memberships, Partnerships, Honors | |||||
Primary Impacts of Supplying | Community Corrections | Talent Attraction & Retention | Employee Health & Safety | Environmental Performance | GRI Content Reference Index | |||||
Justice-Related Services | ||||||||||
Quality Assurance | Reports and Resources | |||||||||
Reentry Services | Compensation & Benefits | |||||||||
Materiality & Stakeholder Engagement | ||||||||||
Supply Chain & Supplier Diversity | Forward-Looking Statement / Disclaimer | |||||||||
Health Services | Training & Leadership Development | |||||||||
Cybersecurity | ||||||||||
Innovative Solution Delivery | ||||||||||
Ethics & Compliance Program | ||||||||||
Community Engagement & Support | ||||||||||
Political Activity | ||||||||||
Corporate Governance |
Our Company
Our Services
Who We Are
Responsible Operations
Environment
Appendix
Message from Our CEO
CoreCivic's 40-Year-Strong Responsibility to the Public Good
At CoreCivic, our mission to better the public good comes from a deep sense of responsibility to all who have a stake in the critical services we provide. This sense of responsibility has been at the heart of our business since our founding four decades ago. It will always be a fundamental value that defines and drives our commitment to public service.
This commitment led us to be the first in our industry to publish a report demonstrating how our values shape how we do business and deliver for stakeholders. The same commitment inspires our chaplains, teachers, nurses, counselors, correctional officers, and other colleagues to show up for our residents every day and help them break the cycle of recidivism.
Throughout 2023, as CoreCivic celebrated its 40th anniversary, I had the joy of hearing from many of our professionals what their work
in public service means. I'm never surprised by our immense pride in keeping residents, employees, and communities safe, helping reduce reentry barriers for people who need a second chance, and providing flexible solutions to some of our country's biggest challenges.
This report is an extension of that sense of responsibility because it's a chance to demonstrate in a tangible way how our efforts to better the public good add up over a year. I've often said there's a rightful expectation of transparency from companies. We strengthen CoreCivic by sharing with stakeholders how we operate, set goals for ourselves, and accomplish - or, when we fall short, learn from - those goals. This report will continue to be a platform for us to share our accomplishments, goals, and aspirations moving forward. In that spirit, I'm proud to share some of our achievements for 2023.
Business Highlights
Of our 34 contracts up for renewal last year, we had a 100% success rate across both CoreCivic Safety and CoreCivic Community. Very few metrics for our business - or any business - better demonstrate our dependability as a partner, the quality of our services, and the value we provide. While we succeeded at retaining contracts, we also grew our business with new and existing partners.
Reentry Highlights
CoreCivic made substantial progress last year toward helping those in our care gain the tools and skills they need to change their lives. For example, CoreCivic deployed ResNet (short for Residential Network)at 20 facilities last year to connect residents to online job skills training, testing and certification. We also launched a new partnership with Reboot Recovery to offer a peer-led,12-week,research-based PTSD/trauma and resiliency program for incarcerated veterans. We piloted the program at four facilities and are now expanding across our correctional facilities.
Environmental Highlights
Our sense of responsibility and commitment to public service extends to the environmental impact of our operations, particularly in communities where natural resources are scarce. For example, in arid Eloy, Arizona, just south of Phoenix, CoreCivic built and manages a water treatment systemthat supports four of our facilities. We treat up to 1 million gallons of water daily, sustainably providing clean water to thousands of people who depend on it.
Safety Highlights
Our most critical responsibility is keeping people safe. In recent years, that's included not just the security measures that come with operating correctional facilities but also keeping our residents and employees safe from the threat of dangerous substances like synthetic opioids - a nationwide challenge that requires constant collaboration with
Our Company Message from Our CEO 04
our government partners. We view our responsibility as not just keeping dangerous contraband out of our facilities but also helping those in our care recover from the ravages of substance use disorders. In 2023, CoreCivic developed our first in-facility medication- assisted treatment program, or MAT, at two facilities. MAT programs combine the use of medications and behavioral therapies to treat opioid use disorders.
Employee Highlights
Very few companies reach a four-decade milestone without embedded core principles of integrity and responsibility. I'm proud of all our CoreCivic employees for demonstrating dedication to those principals every day. An extraordinary example from the past year is at the top of my mind. Willetta Grady, our librarian at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center in Tennessee, was honored by the American Library Association for her work to expand resources and literature at the facility - including doubling the facility's collection of books from 6,000 to 12,000 in just five years. Her sense of responsibility for our residents' education and reentry process is commendable. CoreCivic is incredibly fortunate to have a team dedicated to going above and beyond to help the people around them and lead with integrity. They feel a deep responsibility to better the public good in all they do.
I'm proud of all we accomplished as a company in 2023 and throughout our 40 years of public service. We demonstrated how a company can succeed by leading and serving with a sense of responsibility toward those who depend on our critical services. I look forward to seeing what CoreCivic will achieve with that same devotion to public service
in 2024.
Damon T. Hininger
President & CEO, CoreCivic
Our Company
Our Services
Who We Are
Responsible Operations
Environment
Appendix
Our Company Primary Impacts of Supplying Justice-Related Services 05
Primary Impacts
of Supplying
Justice-Related
Services
CoreCivic partners with governments to keep communities safe, provide transformative reentry opportunities and protect human rights. We are entrusted with some of our government partners' toughest challenges, and we welcome the robust oversight that accompanies our services. Like other public companies with high-visibility missions, we serve with a commitment to transparency and continued professional growth
and learning. We remain steadfast in our commitment to providing high-quality, compassionate treatment to all those in our care.
Residents & Clients
We make daily short- and long-term impacts on the lives of the individuals in our care and on the lives of other citizens involved in the justice system who are receiving treatment. Our opportunities to promote their well-being include delivering quality living conditions, access to medical care, connections to family and community, and multiple treatment services designed to prepare them for lasting success upon return to their communities.
Government Partners
With 40 years of experience and a large network of services, CoreCivic provides a diverse suite of capabilities with the flexibility, scale and dependability required for some of the toughest challenges governments face. We work to further our government partners' public service missions by providing quality correctional and detention services. Our commitment and ability to provide quality rehabilitative and treatment services also yields positive social and economic impacts. We utilize evidence-based practices designed to reduce recidivism and prepare those in our care for lasting success.
Employees
The value proposition we offer employees reflects the short- and long-term impact we make on our staff. Through competitive wage and benefits and long-term career pathways through our professional development opportunities, we strive to create a culture of respect in the workplace. We value differences. We appreciate individual contributions and support each other in our pursuit of providing high-quality services.
Communities
CoreCivic strives to be a positive member of the communities in which we operate. Maintaining safe, secure communities by delivering on our safety and reentry mission is fundamental to our core service goals. We are proud of our positive economic impact. At the local level, we offer quality jobs, competitive wages and benefits and opportunities for long-term career growth. We engage our local communities with various support activities, charitable contributions and volunteerism.
Our Company
Our Services
Who We Are
Responsible Operations
Environment
Appendix
Materiality & Stakeholder Engagement
Understanding the priorities of our stakeholders guides the development of our ESG reports and informs our business strategies. Our GRI-informed materiality assessment process includes interviews with our diverse group of internal and external stakeholders. For each material topic identified in this process, our ESG team met with CoreCivic team members to review and discuss GRI 3-3 "Management of material topics" to inform the disclosures in this report.
Our Company Materiality & Stakeholder Engagement 06 | ||
Stakeholder Group | Engagement Channels | |
• | Climate and culture surveys | |
CoreCivic Board & | • | Action plans informed by organizational culture surveys |
• | Focus groups and town halls | |
Employees | ||
• | Digital and print media | |
• | Formal reporting mechanisms (e.g., CoreCivic ethics line) | |
• | Daily interaction | |
Inmates, Residents & | • | Resident climate surveys |
• | Formal reporting and grievance mechanisms | |
Detainees | ||
• | Facility-level human rights consultations | |
• | Resident concern line | |
• | One-on-one dialogue | |
• | Requests for information/proposals | |
Government Partners | • | Oversight and monitoring |
• | Audit and corrective action planning | |
• | On-site contract monitors | |
• | One-on-one dialogue | |
Industry & Labor | • | Meetings and conferences |
Associations | • | Negotiations |
• | American Correctional Association (ACA) panels and committees | |
• | Annual meeting of stockholders | |
• | Quarterly earnings calls | |
Investors & Banks | • | Investor presentations and industry events |
• | ESG and proxy analyses | |
• | One-on-one investor meetings | |
• | National and local partnerships | |
NGOs, Faith-Based | • | One-on-one dialogue |
Organizations & | • | In-facility volunteering and non-profit service |
Advocacy Groups | • | Written communications and media |
• | Facility tours | |
• | One-on-one dialogue | |
• | Employee volunteering and non-profit service | |
Community Members | • | Community Relations Committees |
• | Community member in-facility volunteer services | |
• | Written communications and media | |
Our Company
Our Services
Who We Are
Responsible Operations
Environment
Appendix
Our Company Materiality & Stakeholder Engagement 07
Key topics identified by our internal and external stakeholders fall under five focus areas. Many key topics are interrelated, and this report will cross-reference other topics to more fully disclose how we manage and perform in such areas. Additionally, some topics and focus areas have been updated to better align with the changing nature of our business and the way we manage key topics.
Topics were assessed based on the GRI's definition of "materiality" and updated guidance regarding impact, including impacts to individuals and their human rights. Our impact evaluations consider many factors, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Several of the material topics in this report are unique to the correctional and detention sector. Applicable GRI disclosure topics are listed in the GRI Index found in the appendix of this report.
Operational | Organizational | Resident Treatment / | Community | Improving | |
Focus Areas | Culture / Value | Environmental | |||
Excellence | Reentry Services | Relations | |||
Proposition | Performance | ||||
• | Contract Compliance | • | Culture of Respect | • | Community Engagement | |||||
• Data Tracking & Reporting | • Employee Safety & Security | • | Community Corrections | • | Community Safety & Security | |||||
• | Ethics & Integrity | • | Talent Attraction & Retention | • | Health & Medical Services | • | Economic Impact on | • | Green Design | |
Key Topics | • | Innovative Solution Delivery | • | Humane & Respectful Treatment | the Community | |||||
• | Training & Leadership | |||||||||
• | Green Operations | |||||||||
• | Robust Oversight | Opportunities | • | Resident Safety & Security | • | Media Understanding & Influence | ||||
• | Safe & Secure Operations | • | Compensation & Benefits | • | Reentry Services | • | Political Accountability | |||
• | Cybersecurity | • | Diversity, Equity & Inclusion | • | Trust & Transparency |
Our Company
Our Services
Who We Are
Responsible Operations
Environment
Our Services Safe & Secure Operations 08
Safe & Secure Operations
Appendix
Safe and secure operations are foundational to our business and a baseline requirement for a positive environment for our employees and those in our care. Our performance directly impacts our residents, employees and communities in which we live and work. The actual and potential impacts from our performance require a management approach founded in longtime experience, strong values and established professional standards.
Corrections professionals from frontline officers to facility directors conduct our secure operations at the facility level. Facility support center personnel provide specialty support in areas like PREA compliance, occupational health and safety, emergency preparedness and security threat group intelligence.
Our operations management team, with support from other divisions, routinely assesses safety and security risks and develops programs or initiatives to mitigate threats. It also manages and reports against annual goals established through our strategic planning process. The goals are designed to meet our organizational objective of providing safe, secure and humane operations that treat all individuals with dignity and respect, and improve and maximize their future outlook. Annual goals directly address potential impacts from our safety and security operations, such as incident reduction and implementation of programs to reduce the likelihood of negative outcomes.
Oversight is provided by our Quality Assurance (QA)division as well as external accrediting organizations, government partners and various federal, state and local agencies.
Key Components of Safety and Security Operations
Conditions of Confinement
Modern facilities with clean air, clean water, natural light, comfortable temperatures and space for recreation, programming and visitation.
Safety & Security
Policies and procedures designed to meet or exceed our government partners' standards, covering essential safety and health requirements that are subject to routine internal and external oversight.
Access to Daily Needs
Balance safety and security needs with commitment to providing access to programs and human and legal rights activities.
Preparing for Success
Offering of reentry services designed to prepare those in our care for long-lasting success upon reentry to their communities.
Our Company
Our Services
Who We Are
Responsible Operations
Environment
Appendix
Safe & Secure Operations
Case Study
Opioid Use Disorder
Taking a proactive approach to mitigating opioid use disorder (OUD) risks to support positive health
The opioid epidemic has introduced growing challenges across society and the criminal justice sector. Justice-involved individuals are disproportionately affected by the epidemic. This introduces potential negative impacts for our residents, such as overdose risk, and potential negative impacts for our staff, such as synthetic opioid exposure. CoreCivic has taken a proactive posture in developing risk-informed policies, procedures and programming. Our inter-disciplinary working group has developed and implemented a variety of countermeasures targeted at reducing risks for our residents, their families and our staff. The infographic here summarizes our multi-faceted approach to limit negative impacts across the organization and the populations that we serve.
Risk Assessment
Identify high-risk residents using available data points, such as drug charges or prior history of drug use to more effectively deliver intervention protocols.
Our Services Safe & Secure Operations Case Study 09
Education
Develop and deploy awareness campaigns for staff, residents and residents' families to better recognize the risks and signs of drug overdose and opioid exposure.
Policy
Review and update facility operational policies across topics related to health services, substance abuse, safety and security.
Clinical Review
Research clinical developments and best practices for treatment and response strategies, including medication-assisted treatment (MAT) program pilots and ensuring ready access to overdose response drugs.
Programming
Pilot new resident programs intended to further address substance abuse by reinforcing participant sobriety, skill development and better criminal justice outcomes.
Tracking
Identify technology solutions, such as whole body scanners, to implement at high-risk facilities and standardize tracking overdose incidents to inform residents designated as high risk.
Our Company
Our Services
Who We Are
Responsible Operations
Environment
Appendix
Community Corrections
CoreCivic Community provides services to help justice-involved individuals successfully navigate the return to their communities. Our programs are designed to offer structure for individuals to receive the support they need.
Community facility directors lead day-to-day operations and oversee progress against key performance indicators while subject matter experts provide support and oversight of facility performance. Our facilities are subject to external oversight and audits, which vary by contract, including ACA accreditation audits, partner audits and local government agency reviews.
Our Services Community Corrections 10
Our case management services are paired with "wraparound" services that vary depending on the individual. Wraparound services may include those directly provided by our staff, such as employment assistance and counseling, or those facilitated by our staff through connection to local community groups.
As part of our reentry mission, we facilitate community connections by linking residents to local resources:
Identification
We connect residents to resources and processes to obtain identification and documentation needed for critical areas of reentry, such as employment, housing
and transportation.
Employment
Our staff conduct outreach to potential employers and partner with local groups to raise awareness about the benefits of hiring former offenders, ensuring that residents have ample opportunities to find gainful employment.
Benefits
Reentry specialists work with returning citizens to identify and enroll in any eligible assistance programs that apply in their community, such as affordable housing and food assistance programs.
Transportation | Substance Abuse | Family Connections |
Many of our locations provide | Treatment | Many of our facilities offer |
transportation services to/from | We provide substance use | programs or partner with |
local places of employment | treatment and facilitate | local groups to facilitate |
or assist with public | connections to external support | family connections, including |
transportation so residents | groups. We also provide alcohol | relationship building skills and |
can more easily obtain and | and drug monitoring services | sponsored outings for structured |
maintain employment. | to accompany treatment and | time with family. |
mentorship programs. |
Financial Planning
We offer or collaborate with local groups to provide financial planning programs so residents can create budgets and more confidently transition to life in their communities.
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Disclaimer
CoreCivic Inc. published this content on 12 April 2024 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 12 April 2024 16:37:10 UTC.
