Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the

Securities Exchange Act of 1934

(Amendment No.  )

Filed by the Registrant ☒

Filed by a Party other than the Registrant  ☐

Check the appropriate box:

Payment of Filing Fee (Check the appropriate box):

March 28, 2024

We invite you to attend the 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “Annual Meeting”) of CoreCivic, Inc. (the “Company”) to be held at 10:00 a.m., Central Time, on Thursday, May 16, 2024. This year’s Annual Meeting will be a virtual meeting of stockholders to be held over the internet via webcast at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/CXW2024. We believe that the use of the internet to host the virtual Annual Meeting enables full and equal participation by all our stockholders from nearly any location in the world at little to no additional cost to any such stockholder.

An audio broadcast of the virtual Annual Meeting will also be available to stockholders by telephone at 1-877-328-2502 (toll-free) or 1-412-317-5419 (international). Please note that listening to the telephonic audio broadcast will not be deemed attending the virtual Annual Meeting, and you cannot vote or participate in the virtual Annual Meeting from such telephonic audio broadcast. You will be able to attend the virtual Annual Meeting and to vote and submit questions during the virtual Annual Meeting via a live webcast by visiting www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/CXW2024 and entering the 16-digit control number included on your notice of internet availability of your proxy materials, your proxy card, or voter instruction form. The live webcast format of our virtual Annual Meeting is designed to provide our stockholders with rights and opportunities to participate as they would at an in-person meeting. In addition to being able to vote during the virtual Annual Meeting, the platform for the virtual Annual Meeting will permit stockholders to submit appropriate questions during the virtual Annual Meeting through the website for the virtual Annual Meeting. We will answer as many questions submitted in accordance with the rules of conduct for the virtual Annual Meeting as possible in the time allotted for the virtual Annual Meeting. The question-and-answer session will follow the formal matters to be addressed at the virtual Annual Meeting.

As in the past, prior to the virtual Annual Meeting, you will be able to authorize a proxy to vote your shares on the matters submitted for stockholder approval at the virtual Annual Meeting by registering with and submitting certain information to www.proxyvote.com. We encourage you to do so. The Notice of Annual Meeting and Proxy Statement, both of which accompany this letter, provide details regarding the business to be conducted at the virtual Annual Meeting, as well as other important information about the Company.

Along with the other members of the Board of Directors and management, we encourage you to attend our virtual Annual Meeting via webcast.

We are pleased to take advantage of Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) rules that allow issuers to furnish proxy materials to their stockholders over the internet. We believe these rules allow us to provide our stockholders with the information they need in a timely and convenient manner, while lowering the costs of delivery and reducing the environmental impact of the virtual Annual Meeting. Our Proxy Statement and Annual Report to Stockholders (including our Letter to Stockholders and 2023 Annual Report on Form 10-K) are available on our website at www.corecivic.com. Links to websites included in this Proxy Statement are provided solely for convenience purposes. Content on the websites, including content on our Company website, is not part of this Proxy Statement or incorporated herein or into any of our other filings with the SEC. Additionally, and in accordance with SEC rules, you may access our proxy materials at http://materials.proxyvote.com/21871N. You may request copies of the proxy materials, including our Proxy Statement, without charge by sending a written request to CoreCivic, Attention: Michael Grant, Managing Director of Investor Relations, 5501 Virginia Way, Suite 110, Brentwood, TN 37027, or by calling Michael Grant at (615) 263-3000.

An audio broadcast of the virtual Annual Meeting will also be available to stockholders by telephone at 1-877-328-2502 (toll-free) or 1-412-317-5419 (international). Please note that listening to the telephonic audio broadcast will not be deemed attending the virtual Annual Meeting, and you cannot vote or participate in the virtual Annual Meeting from such telephonic audio broadcast. You will be able to attend the virtual Annual Meeting and to vote and submit questions during the virtual Annual Meeting via a live webcast by visiting www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/CXW2024 and entering the 16-digit control number included on your notice of internet availability of your proxy materials, your proxy card, or voter instruction form. The live webcast format of our virtual Annual Meeting is designed to provide our stockholders with rights and opportunities to participate as they would at an in-person meeting. In addition to being able to vote during the virtual Annual Meeting, the platform for the virtual Annual Meeting will permit stockholders to submit appropriate questions during the virtual Annual Meeting through the website for the virtual Annual Meeting. We will answer as many questions submitted in accordance with the rules of conduct for the virtual Annual Meeting as possible in the time allotted for the virtual Annual Meeting. The question-and-answer session will follow the formal matters to be addressed at the virtual Annual Meeting.

Stockholders of record at the close of business on Monday, March 18, 2024, are entitled to vote at the virtual Annual Meeting and any adjournments or postponements thereof.

March 28, 2024

Brentwood, TN

TO BE HELD ON Thursday, May 16, 2024

We are providing this Proxy Statement in connection with the solicitation by the Board of Directors (our “Board”) of CoreCivic, Inc., a Maryland corporation (the “Company,” “CoreCivic,” “we” or “us”), of proxies to be voted at our 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and any adjournments or postponements thereof (the “Annual Meeting”). This year’s Annual Meeting will be a virtual meeting of stockholders to be held over the internet via webcast at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/CXW2024. We believe that the use of the internet to host the virtual Annual Meeting enables full and equal participation by all our stockholders from nearly any location in the world at little to no additional cost to any such stockholder.

On or about Thursday, March 28, 2024, a Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials (the “Notice”) will be mailed to our stockholders of record as of the close of business Monday, March 18, 2024, the record date, containing instructions on how to access this Proxy Statement, the Annual Report to Stockholders (including our Letter to Stockholders and 2023 Annual Report on Form 10-K) and other proxy materials online, and how to vote. If you prefer to receive the proxy materials in the mail and to vote by mail, the Notice also contains instructions on how to request a printed copy. You will not receive printed copies of the proxy materials in the mail unless you specifically request them.

The virtual Annual Meeting will take place via webcast on Thursday, May 16, 2024, at 10:00 a.m., Central Time. An audio broadcast of the virtual Annual Meeting will also be available to stockholders by telephone at 1-877-328-2502 (toll-free) or 1-412-317-5419 (international). Please note that listening to the telephonic audio broadcast will not be deemed attending the virtual Annual Meeting, and you cannot vote or participate in the virtual Annual Meeting from such telephonic audio broadcast. You will be able to attend the virtual Annual Meeting and to vote and submit questions during the virtual Annual Meeting via a live webcast by visiting www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/CXW2024 and entering the 16-digit control number included on your Notice, your proxy card, or voter instruction form. The live webcast format of our virtual Annual Meeting is designed to provide our stockholders with rights and opportunities to participate as they would at an in-person meeting. In addition to being able to vote during the virtual Annual Meeting, the platform for the virtual Annual Meeting will permit stockholders to submit appropriate questions during the virtual Annual Meeting through the website for the virtual Annual Meeting, and we will answer as many questions submitted in accordance with the rules of conduct for the virtual Annual Meeting as possible in the time allotted for the virtual Annual Meeting. The question-and-answer session will follow the formal matters to be addressed at the virtual Annual Meeting. If you plan to attend the virtual Annual Meeting, you must be a stockholder of record as of the close of business on Monday, March 18, 2024, the record date.

IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING THE AVAILABILITY OF PROXY MATERIALS FOR THE

STOCKHOLDER MEETING TO BE HELD ON THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2024.

The Company’s Proxy Statement and Annual Report to Stockholders (including our Letter to Stockholders and 2023 Annual Report on Form 10-K) are available on our website at www.corecivic.com. Additionally, and in accordance with SEC rules, you may access our proxy materials at http://materials.proxyvote.com/21871N.

Stockholders are asked to consider and vote on the following matters at the virtual Annual Meeting:

As of the date of this Proxy Statement, we are not aware of any other matters that will be presented for action at the virtual Annual Meeting.

Stockholders of record of our common stock at the close of business on the “record date” are entitled to receive notice of and to vote at the virtual Annual Meeting. Our Board has fixed the close of business on Monday, March 18, 2024, as the record date.

As of the record date, there were 111,633,150 shares of common stock outstanding and entitled to vote. Holders of common stock are entitled to one vote for each share of common stock held as of the record date on each matter to be voted on at the virtual Annual Meeting.

If you wish to attend the virtual Annual Meeting via webcast, you must be a stockholder of record as of the close of business on Monday, March 18, 2024, the record date. If you are a stockholder of record, or if you hold a legal proxy for the virtual Annual Meeting provided by your broker, bank, or other nominee, you may attend the virtual Annual Meeting via a live webcast by visiting www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/CXW2024 and entering the 16-digit control number included on your Notice, your proxy card or voter instruction form. If you do not own your shares directly, but instead are the beneficial owner of shares held in “street name” by a broker, bank or other nominee and wish to attend the virtual Annual Meeting, you should follow the instructions on the voting instruction form or the Notice you receive from your broker, bank, or other nominee.

To vote or submit a question during the virtual Annual Meeting, you will need to follow the instructions posted at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/CXW2024 and will need to enter the 16-digit control number included on your Notice, your proxy card, or voter instruction form. Broadridge Financial Services, Inc. is hosting our virtual Annual Meeting and, on the date of the virtual Annual Meeting, will be available to answer your questions regarding how to attend and participate in the virtual Annual Meeting. More information on technical support issues relating to access to, and participation in, the virtual Annual Meeting is provided under the heading What if during the virtual Annual Meeting I have technical difficulties or trouble accessing the live webcast of the virtual Annual Meeting? If you do not own your shares directly, but instead are the beneficial owner of shares held in “street name” by a broker, bank or other nominee and wish to vote or submit a question during the virtual Annual Meeting, you should follow the instructions on the voting instruction form or the Notice you receive from your broker, bank, or other nominee.

The virtual Annual Meeting platform is fully supported across browsers (Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari) and devices (including computers, tablets, and cell phones) running the most updated version of applicable software. Participants should ensure that they have a reliable Wi-Fi connection wherever they intend to participate in the virtual Annual Meeting. Participants should allow time to log in and ensure that they can hear streaming audio prior to the start of the virtual Annual Meeting.

An audio broadcast of the virtual Annual Meeting will also be available to stockholders by telephone at 1-877-328-2502 (toll-free) or 1-412-317-5419 (international). Please note that listening to the telephonic audio broadcast will not be deemed attending the virtual Annual Meeting, and you cannot vote or participate in the virtual Annual Meeting from such telephonic audio broadcast.

Our Board recommends that you vote:

If you submit a signed proxy card or submit your proxy by telephone or internet and do not specify how you want your shares voted, the proxy holder will vote your shares according to the recommendations of our Board set forth above. Further, if any other matter properly comes before the virtual Annual Meeting or any adjournments or postponements thereof, the proxy holders will vote as recommended by our Board or, if no recommendation is given, in their own discretion.

Pursuant to rules adopted by the SEC, we have elected to provide access to our proxy materials over the internet. Accordingly, we are sending the Notice regarding the internet availability of the proxy materials to most of our stockholders of record and beneficial owners. All stockholders will have the ability to access the proxy materials on the website referred to in the Notice or to request to receive a printed set of proxy materials. Instructions on how to access the proxy materials over the internet or to request a printed copy may be found in the Notice. In addition, stockholders may request receipt of proxy materials in printed form by mail or electronically by e-mail on an ongoing basis by following instructions set forth in the Notice.

You can vote either in person by attending the virtual Annual Meeting via webcast or by proxy (whether or not you attend the virtual Annual Meeting via webcast). To vote while attending the virtual Annual Meeting via webcast, you will need to follow the instructions posted at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/CXW2024 and will need to enter the 16-digit control number included on your Notice, your proxy card or voter instruction form.

If you are a record holder, you can submit your vote by proxy in any of the following ways:

If a broker, bank, or other nominee was the record holder of your stock on the record date, you will be able to instruct your broker, bank, or other nominee on how to vote by following the instructions on the voting instruction form or the Notice you receive from your broker, bank, or other nominee. If you wish to vote in person via attendance at the virtual Annual Meeting, you will need to obtain a valid proxy from your broker, bank or other nominee authorizing you to vote your shares at the virtual Annual Meeting by following the instructions on the voting instruction form or the Notice you receive from your broker, bank, or other nominee.

As a record holder, if you submit voting instructions by telephone or by the internet, you may change your vote by following the same instructions used in originally voting your shares. If your shares are held in the name of a broker, bank, or other nominee, you may change your voting instructions by following the instructions of your broker, bank, or other nominee. Attendance at the virtual Annual Meeting will not by itself revoke a previously granted proxy.

Your vote is important. Whether or not you plan to attend the virtual Annual Meeting via webcast, we urge you to submit your voting instructions to the proxy holders as soon as possible.

A “broker non-vote” occurs when a broker, bank, or other nominee holding shares for a beneficial owner has not received voting instructions from the beneficial owner and the broker, bank, or other nominee does not have discretionary authority to vote the shares. Brokers, banks, and other nominees do not have discretionary authority to vote on the election of directors to serve on our Board (Proposal 1) or the advisory vote to approve the compensation paid to our Named Executive Officers (Proposal 3). As a result, if you hold your shares in street name and do not provide voting instructions on these proposals to your broker, bank, or other nominee, your shares will be considered broker non-votes and will not be voted on such proposals. Shares that constitute broker non-votes will be counted as present at the virtual Annual Meeting for the purpose of determining a quorum but will not be considered entitled to vote on Proposal 1 or Proposal 3. Brokers, banks, and other nominees generally have discretionary authority to vote on Proposal 2, the non-binding ratification of the selection of Ernst & Young LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm.

The presence, in person via attendance at the virtual Annual Meeting or by proxy, of the Company’s stockholders entitled to cast a majority of the votes entitled to be cast at the virtual Annual Meeting is necessary to constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at the virtual Annual Meeting. Abstentions and broker non-votes will be treated as shares present and entitled to vote for purposes of determining the presence of a quorum. Failure of a quorum to be represented at the virtual Annual Meeting will necessitate an adjournment or postponement of the virtual Annual Meeting and will subject the Company to additional expense.

Election of Directors. Under the Company’s Eleventh Amended and Restated Bylaws (the “Bylaws”), adopted by our Board in December 2023, a majority of all the votes cast at the virtual Annual Meeting is required for the election of each nominee in an uncontested election of directors. A majority of votes cast means the number of shares cast “for” a nominee’s election exceeds the number of votes cast “against” that nominee. Brokers do not have discretionary authority to vote on the election of directors. Abstentions and broker non-votes will have no effect on the outcome of the vote of the election of directors as they are not considered votes cast.

If a director nominee is an incumbent director and does not receive a majority of the votes cast in an uncontested election, that director will continue to serve on our Board as a “holdover” director but must tender his or her resignation to our Board promptly after certification of the election results of the stockholder vote. The Nominating and Governance Committee of our Board will then recommend to our Board whether to accept the resignation or whether other action should be taken. Our Board will act on the tendered resignation, considering the recommendation of our Nominating and Governance Committee, and our Board’s decision will be publicly disclosed within 90 days after certification of the election results of the stockholder vote. A director who tenders his or her resignation after failing to receive a majority of the votes cast will not participate in the recommendation of our Nominating and Governance Committee or the decision of our Board with respect to his or her resignation.

Non-Binding Ratification of Ernst & Young LLP. The affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the shares present in person via attendance at the virtual Annual Meeting or represented by proxy at the virtual Annual Meeting and entitled to vote is required to approve, on an advisory basis, the ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024. If our stockholders do not ratify the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP, our Audit Committee will reconsider the appointment and may affirm the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP or retain another independent accounting firm, in its sole discretion. Even if the appointment of Ernst & Young is ratified, our Audit Committee may in the future replace Ernst & Young LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm at any time if it determines that a change would be in our best interest. Because brokers have discretionary authority to vote on the ratification of the selection of Ernst & Young LLP as our independent registered public accountants, we do not expect any broker non-votes in connection with this proposal. If you abstain from voting on this proposal, your abstention will have the same effect as a vote against the proposal.

Advisory Vote on Executive Compensation. The affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the shares present in person via attendance at the virtual Annual Meeting or represented by proxy at the virtual Annual Meeting and entitled to vote is required to approve the non-binding advisory vote of compensation paid to our Named Executive Officers. Because your vote is advisory, it will not be binding on our Board or the Company. However, our Board and our Compensation Committee will review the voting results and take them into consideration when making future decisions regarding executive compensation paid to our Named Executive Officers. Broker non-votes will have no effect on the outcome of this proposal. If you abstain from voting on this proposal, your abstention will have the same effect as a vote against the proposal.

We expect to announce the voting results at the virtual Annual Meeting. We also will report the voting results on a Current Report on Form 8-K, which we expect to file with the SEC within four business days after the virtual Annual Meeting has been held.

Our annual meeting of stockholders generally is held in May of each year. Consistent with applicable SEC rules, we will consider for inclusion in our proxy materials for next year’s annual meeting stockholder proposals that are received at our executive offices no later than Thursday, November 30, 2024, and that comply with other SEC rules regarding form and content. Proposals must be sent to our executive offices using the following address: CoreCivic, Attention: Secretary, 5501 Virginia Way, Suite 110, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027.

Other stockholder proposals may be raised at next year’s annual meeting (but not considered for inclusion in our proxy materials) if timely received and otherwise in compliance with the advance notice provisions of our Bylaws. To be timely, notice must be received at our executive offices (the applicable address listed above) between Saturday, February 15, 2025, and Monday, March 17, 2025.

If you wish to nominate an individual to serve as a director, our Bylaws require that you comply with certain procedural requirements, including the delivery of a timely notice of the nomination in proper written form. The notice must include, among other things, certain biographical information regarding the proposed nominee that is required to be disclosed in solicitations of proxies for election of directors, or is otherwise required, in each case pursuant to Regulation 14A under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), a completed written questionnaire with respect to each proposed nominee setting forth the background and qualifications of such proposed nominee, the proposed nominee’s written consent to nomination, and the additional information as set forth in our Bylaws. Additionally, for a stockholder nominee to appear in our proxy materials, the nominating stockholder must satisfy, among other requirements set forth in our Bylaws, certain CoreCivic capital stock ownership requirements, as well as expressly elect at the time of providing the notice described above to have its nominee included in the Company’s proxy materials.

For a stockholder’s notice to the Secretary of the nomination of an individual to serve as a director to be timely under our Bylaws, it must be delivered to or mailed and received at our principal executive offices (the applicable address listed above) between Saturday, February 15, 2025, and Monday, March 17, 2025. If the presiding officer at a meeting determines that a nomination was not properly made in accordance with the procedures set forth in our Bylaws, then the presiding officer will declare at the meeting that the nomination was defective, and the defective nomination shall be disregarded.

Stockholders who intend to solicit proxies in reliance on the SEC’s universal proxy rule for director nominees under the advance notice provisions of our Bylaws must also comply with the addition requirements of Rule 14a-19(b).

Any stockholder who desires a copy of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, as filed with the SEC, may obtain a copy without charge by visiting our website, www.corecivic.com. A copy of our Annual Report on Form 10-K can also be obtained, free of charge, upon written request to CoreCivic, Attention: Michael Grant, Managing Director of Investor Relations, 5501 Virginia Way, Suite 110, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027.

The Company pays the cost of soliciting proxies. Solicitation initially will be made by mail. Forms of proxies and proxy materials may also be distributed through brokers, custodians, and other like parties to the beneficial owners of shares of our common stock, in which case we will reimburse these parties for their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses. Proxies may also be solicited personally or by telephone, e-mail or facsimile by directors, officers, and employees of the Company. No additional compensation will be paid for these services.

The SEC has adopted rules that permit companies and intermediaries such as brokers to satisfy delivery requirements for proxy statements and annual reports with respect to two or more stockholders sharing the same address by delivering a single copy of the Notice and, to the extent requested, a single set of proxy materials addressed to those stockholders. This process, which is commonly referred to as “householding,” potentially provides extra convenience for stockholders and cost savings for companies. The Company and some brokers household proxy materials unless contrary instructions have been received from the affected stockholders. Once you have received notice from your broker or us that they or we will be householding materials to your address, householding will continue until you are notified otherwise or until you provide instructions to the contrary. If at any time you do not wish to participate in householding and would prefer to receive a separate copy of the Notice or, to the extent requested, set of proxy materials, or if you are receiving multiple copies of proxy materials and wish to receive only one, please notify your broker if your shares are held in a brokerage account or our transfer agent, identified below, if you hold registered shares. You may also notify us by sending a written request to CoreCivic, Attention: Michael Grant, 5501 Virginia Way, Suite 110, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027.

If you have any questions about the virtual Annual Meeting or these proxy materials, please contact Michael Grant, 5501 Virginia Way, Suite 110, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027 or by telephone at (615) 263-3000. If you are a registered stockholder and have any questions about your ownership of our common stock, please contact our transfer agent, Equiniti Trust Company, through its website at https://www.shareowneronline.com or by phone at (800) 937-5449, or Michael Grant, Managing Director of Investor Relations, at the address and phone number above. If your shares are held in a brokerage account, please contact your broker.

We will hold a question-and-answer session following the formal business portion of the meeting during which shareholders may submit questions to us. If you would like to submit a question during the virtual Annual Meeting, once you have logged into the webcast at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/CXW2024, simply type your question in the “ask a question” box and click “submit.” We will answer as many questions submitted in accordance with the rules of conduct for the virtual Annual Meeting as possible in the time allotted for the virtual Annual Meeting.

We encourage you to access the virtual Annual Meeting before it begins. Online check-in will start approximately thirty minutes before the virtual Annual Meeting on Thursday, May 16, 2024. If you encounter any difficulties accessing the virtual Annual Meeting during the check-in time or meeting time, or you have any questions regarding how to use the virtual meeting platform, please call the technical support number that will be posted on the virtual shareholder meeting log-in page. On Thursday, May 16, 2024, there will be technicians available to assist you beginning at 9:30 a.m., Central Time.

We believe effective corporate governance is important to our long-term success and our ability to create value for our stockholders. With leadership from our Nominating and Governance Committee, our Board regularly evaluates regulatory developments and trends in corporate governance to determine whether our policies and practices in this area should be enhanced. Our Nominating and Governance Committee also administers an annual self-evaluation process for our Board and its standing committees. In addition, our directors are encouraged to attend director education programs, which are reimbursed by the Company.

You can access our current corporate charter, Bylaws, Corporate Governance Guidelines, Board committee charters, Code of Ethics, and certain other corporate governance information on our website, www.corecivic.com (under the “Corporate Governance” section of the Investors page).

Messrs. Hininger and Lappin are not independent directors because Mr. Hininger is employed by the Company, and Mr. Lappin was employed by the Company until February 2022. Our Board has determined all our other directors are independent.

In making the determination that each of our other directors is independent, our Board affirmatively determined that each such director satisfies the definition of “independent director” under the rules of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”). In addition, our Board has further determined the following regarding the directors it has determined to be independent:

Accordingly, ten of our twelve current directors are independent, and nine of our eleven director nominees are independent. Our Audit, Risk, Compensation and Nominating and Governance Committees are comprised entirely of independent directors. In making its independence determinations, our Board used the requirements and standards for director independence prescribed by the NYSE, the SEC and our Corporate Governance Guidelines and considers all relevant facts and circumstances.

In December 2022, our Board established a policy regarding the separation of our Chairman of the Board of Directors (our “Chair”) and Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) positions. While, in general, our Board believes the determination depends on the circumstances, including our Board’s evaluation of the person or persons available to serve in those positions and the needs of the Company at a particular time, our Corporate Governance Guidelines require the appointment of a Lead Independent Director (“LID”) whenever the role of Chair and CEO are held by the same person.

Since October 2009, the roles of Chair and CEO have been held separately. Mark A. Emkes currently serves as our Chair, while Damon T. Hininger serves as our President and CEO. Our Board believes the Company’s leadership structure is appropriate at this time and has not appointed an LID. Having Mr. Hininger serve as President and CEO, while Mr. Emkes serves as our Chair, helps us achieve important strategic objectives. Mr. Hininger is positioned to fully focus his energies on implementing our business strategy and administering our day-to-day affairs. Mr. Emkes is positioned to draw on his relationships with Board members and his experience to

effectively discharge the duties of Chair, while also serving as a resource to Mr. Hininger. Our Board considers many factors when determining how to best select our Chair, including: familiarity with the Company and its business, proximity in location to the Company’s headquarters, experience as a leader and consensus builder, willingness, and availability to dedicate sufficient time to the Company, and experience working with other public companies.

Pursuant to our Bylaws, our Chair presides over meetings of our Board and meetings of the stockholders at which he or she is present and has general oversight responsibility for our business and affairs. Our CEO has responsibility for implementation of the policies of the Company, as determined by our Board, and for the administration of our business affairs. Our CEO also has responsibility for presiding over any meeting of our Board or of the stockholders at which our Chair is not present.

Executive sessions of our Board, or meetings of our independent directors without management present, are held periodically to provide an opportunity for the directors to discuss openly all matters. Our independent directors typically conduct their executive sessions prior to, and/or following the conclusion of, regular meetings of our Board. Our Corporate Governance Guidelines provide that executive sessions of our Board are called and chaired by an independent director appointed from time to time by our Nominating and Governance Committee. Mark A. Emkes currently serves as the executive session chair.

Our Board is responsible for establishing our broad corporate policies and strategic objectives, reviewing our overall performance, and overseeing management’s performance. Among other things, our Board appoints and evaluates our executive officers, establishes, reviews, and approves our corporate objectives and strategies, and evaluates and approves major acquisitions and capital commitments.

Our Board currently consists of twelve directors, eleven of whom are standing for re-election at the virtual Annual Meeting and are identified, along with their biographical information (such biographical information for incumbent director Donna M. Alvarado, who intends to retire as a director, and will not stand for re-election, effective as of the virtual Annual Meeting, is also included), under “Proposal 1—Election of Directors” beginning on page 22 of this Proxy Statement. Effective with Ms. Alvarado's retirement, the size of the Board will be reduced to eleven directors.

In 2023, our Board met five times in regular session, and our independent directors met six times in executive session. The average attendance of all directors at Board and applicable standing committee meetings was approximately 97%. Each director attended at least 80% of the aggregate meetings of the Board and any standing committees on which such director was a member, during the period in which he or she served as a member of such committee. Our Corporate Governance Guidelines provide that all directors are expected to attend each annual meeting of stockholders. All the directors serving on the Board at such time virtually attended the 2023 virtual Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

Our Board has five standing committees: the Audit, Compensation, Nominating and Governance, Risk, and Executive Committees. Each standing committee has a written charter that has been approved by the respective committee, the Nominating and Governance Committee, and our Board. Each committee charter is reviewed at least annually. Our Board and its committees may act by unanimous written consent without convening a meeting. Our Board also appoints and delegates certain duties to special committees from time to time as permitted by our Bylaws. The table below shows the current composition of each of our standing committees. Together with a summary of each committee’s responsibilities and the number of meetings each committee held in 2023.

Our Audit Committee is responsible for:

Our Board has determined that each member of our Audit Committee is independent as defined by the standards of the NYSE, Rule 10A-3 under the Exchange Act and our Corporate Governance Guidelines. Our Board also has determined that each member is

“financially literate” as defined by the rules of the NYSE, and that each of Ms. Mariucci, Mr. Murphy, and Mr. Prann is qualified as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in Item 407(d) of Regulation S-K under the Exchange Act. The full text of the Audit Committee charter is available on the Company’s website at www.corecivic.com (under the “Corporate Governance” section of the Investors page).

Our Compensation Committee approves the compensation of our CEO and other executive officers, including annually reviewing and approving corporate goals and objectives relevant to their compensation. Our Compensation Committee is responsible for ensuring that our compensation programs are designed to encourage high performance, promote accountability and adherence to Company values, and align with the interests of our stockholders. Our Compensation Committee’s responsibilities include administration of cash and equity-based incentive compensation plans and stock ownership guidelines, evaluation of the performance of the executive officers, and assessment of the material risks of our compensation programs. With respect to ESG matters, our Compensation Committee monitors and manages our executive compensation program incentives to ensure incentives are aligned with sustainable and socially responsible business practices. Our Compensation Committee is also responsible for reviewing, and making recommendations to our Board regarding, the compensation of our Board. The Compensation Committee may form and delegate authority to one or more subcommittees as it deems appropriate from time to time under the circumstances.

Our Compensation Committee has retained Exequity LLP (“Exequity”) as its independent compensation consultant, to provide advice and guidance on the design and market competitiveness of our executive compensation programs. Exequity reports exclusively to the Compensation Committee and does not provide any additional services to the Company. Each year our Compensation Committee reviews the independence of the compensation consultants and other advisors who provide advice to our Compensation Committee, employing the independence factors specified in the NYSE listing standards. Our Compensation Committee has determined Exequity is independent within the meaning of the NYSE listing standards. In 2023, Exequity assisted our Compensation Committee by providing the following compensation consulting services:

Our Board has determined that each of Robert J. Dennis (Chair), Mark A. Emkes, Anne L. Mariucci, and John R. Prann, Jr., who comprise all members of our Compensation Committee, is independent as defined by the listing standards of the NYSE and our Corporate Governance Guidelines. In addition, there are no relationships among our executive officers, members of our Compensation Committee or entities whose executives serve on our Board, or our Compensation Committee that require disclosure. Each member of our Compensation Committee also qualifies as a “non-employee director” within the meaning of Rule 16b-3 under the Exchange Act. The full text of the Compensation Committee charter is available on the Company’s website at www.corecivic.com (under the “Corporate Governance” section of the Investors page).

Our Nominating and Governance Committee is responsible for developing and overseeing our Board’s Corporate Governance Guidelines, and for monitoring the independence of our Board. Our Nominating and Governance Committee also determines Board membership qualifications; selects, evaluates, and recommends to the Board nominees to fill vacancies as they arise; reviews the performance of our Board and its committees; and is responsible for director education. Other responsibilities include oversight of our Board’s self-evaluation process and leading our Board’s executive succession planning efforts. With respect to ESG matters, our Nominating and Governance Committee oversees Company practices and policies related to corporate governance, social responsibility, community interests, political activities, and political contributions and lobbying. Our Board has determined that each member of our Nominating and Governance Committee is independent as defined by the listing standards of the NYSE and our Corporate Governance Guidelines. The full text of the Nominating and Governance Committee charter is available on the Company’s website at www.corecivic.com (under the “Corporate Governance” section of the Investors page).

Our Nominating and Governance Committee is authorized by our Board to identify director candidates; evaluate and consider candidates proposed by any director, member of management or stockholder; develop and implement screening processes it deems necessary and appropriate; and recommend for selection by our Board director nominees for each annual meeting of stockholders and, when necessary, vacancies on the Board. Our Nominating and Governance Committee is authorized by our Board to exercise sole authority in retaining any third-party search firm our Nominating and Governance Committee deems appropriate to identify and assist with the evaluation of director candidates; and has utilized that authority in past director searches.

Our Nominating and Governance Committee may utilize a variety of methods for identifying nominees for director. Candidates may come to the attention of our Nominating and Governance Committee through current Board members, stockholders, members of management, director search firms, and other persons. A stockholder who wishes to recommend a prospective nominee for our Board should notify our Secretary in writing, along with any supporting material the stockholder considers appropriate, in accordance with the stockholder proposal provisions of our Bylaws. General information concerning the submission of stockholder proposals is provided above under the heading What is the deadline to propose actions (other than director nominations) for consideration at next year’s annual meeting of stockholders? General information concerning the submission of stockholder nominations for an individual to serve as a director is provided above under the heading How may I nominate individuals to serve as directors and what are the deadlines for a director nomination at next year’s annual meeting of stockholders? Pursuant to our Corporate Governance Guidelines, there are to be no differences in the way our Nominating and Governance Committee evaluates candidates based on the source of the recommendation.

Our Nominating and Governance Committee evaluates prospective nominees against the criteria in our Corporate Governance Guidelines, which include professional integrity and sound judgment; sufficient time available to devote to Board activities; a general understanding of marketing, finance and other elements relevant to the success of a publicly-traded company in today’s business environment; an understanding of our business and human rights concerns related to our business; and factors such as diversity, age, skills and educational and professional background. With respect to diversity, our Nominating and Governance Committee considers diversity in terms of age, gender, race, and ethnicity, as well as diversity of skills, expertise, and experience, in its deliberations. The Nominating and Governance Committee implements these criteria, including diversity, by considering the information about the nominee provided by the proponent, the nominee, third parties, and other sources. In addition, the Board assesses the diversity of its members and nominees as part of an annual performance evaluation by considering, among other factors, diversity in age, gender, race, and ethnicity, as well as diversity of skills, expertise, and experience.

Our Nominating and Governance Committee may also consider other factors it deems relevant, including the current composition of our Board in terms of independence, expertise, experience, and special knowledge required for the effective discharge of Board responsibilities; whether there is a need to fill vacancies or expand or contract the size of the Board; the balance of management and independent directors; the structure, membership and need for expertise on our standing committees; and the qualifications of other prospective nominees. Nominees are not discriminated against based on race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

Currently, our Board has four directors who are diverse, two of whom are racially and ethnically diverse, and three of whom are female (excluding Ms. Alvarado who intends to retire and not stand for re-election at the virtual Annual Meeting). The Board, based on the recommendations of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, has been successful in its director refreshment efforts. For example, three of our independent directors have joined our Board since 2018. The Board and the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee have established a goal of having at least 30% gender diversity on the Board by our 2025 annual meeting of stockholders, and the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee has engaged a director search firm to assist it in achieving this goal.

With respect to determining whether current directors should stand for re-election, our Nominating and Governance Committee considers the director’s past attendance at meetings and participation in and contributions to the activities of our Board and the Company. With respect to new candidates for Board service, a full evaluation may also include detailed background checks and in-person and telephonic interviews with our Nominating and Governance Committee and other Board members. Our Nominating and Governance Committee evaluation process culminates with a decision as to whether to recommend the prospective nominee to the full Board for appointment and/or nomination.

During 2023, the Company engaged a search firm to assist the Nominating and Governance Committee in identifying and evaluating potential directors, and the search culminated in, based on the recommendations of the Nominating and Governance Committee, the Board’s appointments of Catherine Hernandez-Blades and Alexander R. Fischer as new independent directors effective on March 15,

2024. Ms. Hernandez-Blades brings substantial experience in marketing, communications, and ESG leadership in executive roles at publicly-traded companies. Mr. Fischer brings executive leadership experience, knowledge of and experience in real estate, economic development, public policy leadership as well as experience with public and private infrastructure projects.

Our Risk Committee is charged with coordinating our Board’s oversight of our assessment and risk management practices, including our enterprise risk management (“ERM”) program; our legal and regulatory environment; our cybersecurity risk management program (including, the quality, adequacy and effectiveness of our data security, privacy, and technology policies, procedures and internal controls, as well as our cybersecurity and cyber incident response and business continuity and disaster recovery planning and capabilities), and our contract compliance, particularly regarding contracts with government entities. With respect to ESG matters, our Risk Committee is responsible for reviewing and discussing with management the Company’s ESG Reporting Program, making recommendations to our Board regarding ESG Reporting, and overseeing publication of our ESG Report. Our Risk Committee is also responsible for monitoring and reviewing public policy developments and other trends facing the Company that could impact our operations and performance. Our Risk Committee further assists our Board in fulfilling its oversight responsibility with respect to organizational ethics and compliance and receives regular reports from our Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, who reports to the CEO, and to the chair of our Risk Committee. With respect to our cybersecurity risk management program, our Risk Committee receives regular and frequent updates on cybersecurity and information technology matters from our Chief Information Officer and other members of management and, periodically, from outside experts. The full text of the Risk Committee charter is available on the Company’s website at www.corecivic.com (under the “Corporate Governance” section of the Investors page).

During 2023, the Risk Committee performed its oversight responsibilities in accordance with the duties prescribed within its charter. Committee activities included:

Our Executive Committee is charged with acting on behalf of the full Board when necessary and subject to authority limitations with respect to the transaction of routine, administrative matters that occur between regularly scheduled Board meetings. The full text of the Executive Committee charter is available on the Company’s website at www.corecivic.com (under the “Corporate Governance” section of the Investors page).

The Audit Committee charter provides that a member of our Audit Committee may not serve on the audit committee of more than two other public companies without Board approval. Otherwise, we do not believe our directors should be categorically prohibited from serving on boards and/or board committees of other organizations. However, our Corporate Governance Guidelines instruct our Nominating and Governance Committee and our Board to consider the nature of and time involved with respect to a director’s service on other boards, as well as other job responsibilities, in evaluating the suitability of individual directors and in making its recommendations to our stockholders. Service on boards and/or committees of other organizations must also be consistent with our conflicts of interest policy, as set forth in our Code of Ethics. Our Corporate Governance Guidelines require a director to provide notice to the Chair of our Nominating and Governance Committee of his or her acceptance of a nomination to serve on the board of another public company in the case where such nomination has not been previously disclosed.

Stockholders, employees, and other interested parties may communicate with members of our Board (including specific members of our Board or our independent directors as a group) by writing to CoreCivic, Attention: Secretary, 5501 Virginia Way, Suite 110, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027. To the extent such communications are received, our Secretary compiles all substantive communications and periodically submits them to our Board, the group of directors or the individual directors to whom they are addressed. Communications that the Secretary would not consider “substantive,” and therefore may exercise discretion in submitting to the addressee, may include, but are not limited to, junk mail, mass mailings, resumes and job inquiries, surveys, business solicitations, advertisements, frivolous communications, and other similarly unsuitable communications.

Communications expressing concerns or complaints relating to accounting, internal controls, or auditing matters are handled in accordance with procedures established by our Audit Committee. Under those procedures, concerns that are improperly characterized as having to do with accounting, internal controls, or auditing matters, or that are frivolous or clearly inconsequential may be addressed by the Secretary without presentation to our Audit Committee.

Since the beginning of the last fiscal year, we are aware of no related party transactions between us and any of our directors, executive officers, 5% stockholders or their family members that require disclosure under Item 404 of Regulation S-K under the Exchange Act.

Pursuant to its written charter, our Audit Committee has adopted a Related Party Transaction Policy that, subject to certain exceptions, requires our Audit Committee (or Chair of our Audit Committee in certain instances) to review and either ratify, approve, or disapprove all “Interested Transactions,” which are generally defined to include any transaction, arrangement, or relationship or series of similar transactions, arrangements or relationships (including any indebtedness or guarantee of indebtedness) in which:

For purposes of the policy, a “Related Party” is any:

In determining whether to approve or ratify an Interested Transaction under the policy, our Audit Committee is to consider all relevant information and facts available to it regarding the Interested Transaction and take into account factors such as the Related Party’s

relationship to the Company and interest (direct or indirect) in the transaction, the terms of the transaction, the availability of other sources of comparable products or services and the benefits to the Company of the transaction. No director is to participate in the approval of an Interested Transaction for which he or she is a Related Party or otherwise has a direct or indirect interest.

In addition, our Audit Committee is to review and assess ongoing Interested Transactions, if any, on at least an annual basis to determine whether such transactions, if any, remain appropriate or should be modified or terminated.

We maintain stock ownership guidelines for our executive officers and non-executive directors because we believe it is important to align the interests of our management and our Board with the interests of our stockholders. The guidelines are discussed in detail under the headings Executive and Director Compensation—Guidelines and Policies—Executive Officer Stock Ownership Guidelines and Executive and Director Compensation—Director Compensation—Director Stock Ownership Guidelines in this Proxy Statement and are accessible on our website, www.corecivic.com (under the “Corporate Governance” section of the Investors page).

Our insider trading guidelines include provisions that prohibit members of our Board, executive officers, other officers, and employees from engaging in hedging or pledging transactions involving Company securities. Generally prohibited practices include purchasing or selling derivative securities, such as exchange-traded put or call options as well as participating in individually arranged derivative transactions. Directors, executive officers, other officers, and employees are also generally prohibited from participating in long-term forward sales or monetization transactions that are used to hedge an ownership position in the Company’s securities. None of the members of our Board or our executive officers are engaged in any hedging or pledging transactions involving Company securities.

In December 2022, our Board adopted a recoupment policy (the “Clawback Policy”) requiring that, in certain circumstances, the directors, officers and employees of the Company may be required to reimburse the Company for any bonus or incentive compensation awarded to such director, officer or employee. In addition, the Clawback Policy may result in our Board effectuating the cancellation of unvested restricted stock or outstanding stock option awards previously granted to such director, officer or employee in the amount to be determined by the Board. The circumstances triggering this recoupment require a determination by the Board, or an appropriate committee of the Board, that any fraud, illegal act, or intentional misconduct by any director, officer or employee caused, directly or indirectly, the occurrence of an Adverse Event.⁽¹⁾

In 2023, in accordance with the listing standards of the NYSE, our Board adopted the CoreCivic, Inc. NYSE Executive Compensation Recoupment Policy (the “Recoupment Policy”). The Recoupment Policy, which applies to current and former executive officers, provides for the mandatory recoupment of erroneously awarded incentive-based compensation in the event of an accounting restatement due to the material noncompliance of the Company with any financial reporting requirement under the securities laws, including any required accounting restatement to correct an error in previously issued financial statements that is material to the previously issued financial statements, or that would result in a material misstatement if the error were corrected in the current period or left uncorrected in the current period. The Recoupment Policy provides that promptly following such an accounting restatement, the Compensation Committee will determine the amount of the erroneously awarded compensation, which is the excess of the amount of incentive-based compensation received by current and former executive officers that exceeds the amount of incentive-based compensation that otherwise would have been received had it been determined based on the restated amounts, computed without regard to any taxes paid. Subject to certain exceptions in the Recoupment Policy, the Company will reasonably promptly require the recoupment of such erroneously awarded compensation from the applicable current and former executive officers. The Recoupment Policy provides that the Compensation Committee may determine, in its sole discretion, the method(s) for recouping any erroneously awarded incentive compensation, which may include taking any remedial and recovery actions permitted by applicable legal requirements and the rules and regulations of the NYSE, as determined by the Compensation Committee.

In addition, Section 304 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires the recovery of incentive awards in certain circumstances. If we are required to restate our financial reports due to material noncompliance with any financial reporting requirements as a result of misconduct, our CEO and Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) will be required under Section 304 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to reimburse us for (1) any bonus or other incentive- or equity-based compensation received during the 12 months following the first public issuance of the non-compliant document, and (2) any profits realized from the sale of our securities during such twelve-month period. Our Amended and Restated 2020 Stock Incentive Plan (the “2020 Plan”) also provides that any award made to a participant under the plan will be subject to mandatory repayment by the participant to us to the extent required by (a) any award agreement, (b) any “clawback” or recoupment policy adopted by us to comply with the requirements of any applicable laws, rules or regulations, including final SEC rules adopted pursuant to Section 954 of the Dodd-Frank Act, or otherwise, or (c) any applicable laws which impose mandatory recoupment, under circumstances set forth in such applicable laws, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

All our directors and employees, including our CEO, CFO and principal accounting officer, are subject to our Code of Ethics. Our Code of Ethics and related compliance policies are designed to promote an environment in which respect for human dignity is central to our ethical culture, integrity is valued, business is conducted in a legal and ethical manner, and ethics and compliance issues are raised and addressed promptly and in an appropriate manner. Our Nominating and Governance Committee is responsible for reviewing our Code of Ethics annually, and our Risk Committee is responsible for addressing any violations or waivers involving our executive officers and directors. We intend to post any amendments to or waivers from our Code of Ethics (to the extent applicable to our directors, CEO, principal financial officer, or principal accounting officer) on our website. Our Code of Ethics is accessible on our website, www.corecivic.com (under the “Corporate Governance” section of the Investors page).

Our Board engages in proactive oversight and regular review of the development, evaluation and execution of our annual operating plan and long-term growth and investment strategies. Each regular meeting of our Board includes a comprehensive business update presented by our CEO, which addresses our progress in achieving near-term operational objectives, strategic transactions completed, and new opportunities being actively pursued, as well as current and future challenges to our continued success. Each such meeting also includes presentations from members of the executive team who are directly responsible for the implementation of our strategy and the financial performance of our business. At our Board’s two-day retreat in August of each year, management engages our Board in a detailed discussion of our growth, capital allocation and investment strategies, risks and challenges, and proposals for modifying our strategies to improve results. At its annual December meeting, our Board engages in discussion with management on the details of our annual operating plan prior to its approval. In addition to the opportunity to engage management and independent consultants we retain to assist with the development and execution of our strategy, our independent directors meet in executive session regularly to discuss the Company’s performance and review long-term strategy.

Our Risk Committee performs a leadership role on behalf of our Board and our Audit Committee in the oversight of our risk assessment and risk management practices and assists our Board and Audit Committee with oversight of our financial, legal, contractual, regulatory, and ESG risks and organizational ethics and compliance. Our Risk Committee is also charged with oversight of management’s ERM program.

Management’s ERM program entails the identification, prioritization, and assessment of a broad range of risks (e.g., cybersecurity, financial, operational, business, reputational, governance and managerial), and the formulation of plans to develop and improve controls for managing these risks or mitigating their effects in an integrated effort involving our Board, relevant Board committees, management and other personnel. Our ERM program is led by our General Counsel, is a component of management’s strategic planning process, and is overseen by our Risk Committee with periodic reports to the full Board.

The full Board maintains an ongoing, direct role in risk oversight through, among other things, regular reports from the Chair of our Risk Committee, regular reports from Management on the ERM process, and oversight of management’s strategic planning process, which includes an evaluation of opportunities and risks presented by the Company’s current strategies and alternative strategies. Our Board also receives regular reports from each of the executives with respect to their areas of managerial responsibility. These reports include information concerning risks and risk mitigation strategies. For example, our Board receives regular reports from our Chief Operating Officer with respect to key areas of operational risk; monitors risks relating to our partnership development efforts through regular reports from our Chief Development Officer; and receives regular reports from our General Counsel with respect to legal and

compliance risks. In addition, our Board evaluates risk in the context of particular business strategies and transactions. For example, our Board monitors significant capital expenditures through its annual budget review and quarterly capital expenditure reports from management, and monitors risk relating to our acquisition and financing activities through in-depth reviews of proposed acquisition and financing transactions.

In addition to our Risk Committee, other standing committees of our Board have responsibility for risk oversight within their areas of oversight. Our Audit Committee focuses on financial risk, including fraud risk and risks relating to our internal controls over financial reporting. It receives an annual risk assessment report from our internal auditors, as well as financial risk assessment information in connection with particular events or transactions. Our Nominating and Governance Committee addresses certain governance-related risks, such as risks related to Board and executive management succession planning. As discussed in detail below, our Compensation Committee addresses risks relating to our executive compensation strategies. The full Board receives regular reports from the chairs of these committees and receives copies of meeting materials provided to each of the committees.

The Risk Committee of the Board provides oversight for ESG reporting matters, while each standing Committee of the Board shares the oversight of ESG concerns consistent with the duties specified in each Committee's charter. ESG reporting authority is delegated to CoreCivic's Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer by our President and CEO. We appointed a cross-functional team that provides annual updates to the goals and priority reporting topics within our ESG Report. CoreCivic conducts a biennial materiality assessment in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (“GRI”) processes to identify “material” ESG topics, as defined by the GRI.

Topics identified by CoreCivic's internal and external stakeholders during our ESG assessments generally fall within the following areas:

For more information about our ESG efforts, including a catalogue of our ESG reports, please visit our website at www.corecivic.com/esg.

We expect to publish our 2023 ESG Report, providing an update to our ESG efforts, in the second quarter of 2024.

In setting compensation, our Compensation Committee considers risks in the achievement of the Company’s goals that may be inherent in the compensation program as well as the risks to our stockholders. Although a significant portion of our executives’ compensation is performance-based and “at-risk,” our Compensation Committee believes our executive compensation plans are appropriately structured and do not pose a material risk to us. Our Compensation Committee considered the following elements of our executive compensation plans and policies when evaluating whether such plans and policies encourage our executives to take unreasonable risks:

Our Board reflects a diverse, highly engaged group of directors with a wide range of relevant experience. The following matrix provides information about each of our incumbent director nominees, including certain types of knowledge, skills, experiences, and attributes possessed by one or more of our directors, which our Board believes are relevant to our business and operations. The matrix does not encompass all the knowledge, skill, experience, or attributes of our directors and does not suggest that a director who is not listed as having any particular knowledge, skill, experience, or attribute is unable to contribute to the decision-making process in such area. No individual knowledge, skill, experience, or attribute is solely dispositive of becoming a member of our Board. The matrix does not include information about Donna M. Alvarado, who is not standing for re-election at the virtual Annual Meeting.

The current term of office of each of our directors expires at the virtual Annual Meeting. Our Board has nominated the following eleven nominees, all of whom are incumbent directors, for election to serve until the next annual meeting of stockholders and until their successors are duly elected and qualified. We expect each of the eleven nominees to serve if elected. If any of them becomes unavailable to serve as a director, our Board may designate a substitute nominee. In that case, the persons named as proxies will vote for the substitute nominee designated by our Board.

The general criteria considered by our Nominating and Governance Committee with respect to director nominees are discussed beginning on page 14 of this Proxy Statement under the heading Corporate Governance – Board Meetings and Committees – Nominating and Governance Committee. Based on the evaluation of those criteria, our Nominating and Governance Committee and Board believe each nominee contributes relevant skills, expertise, and experience to our Board, and that the group of nominees collectively has the skills, expertise, experience, independence, diversity, and other attributes necessary to effectively discharge our Board’s oversight responsibilities on behalf of our stockholders.

The Board believes that all members of the Board should devote sufficient time and attention to their duties and to otherwise fulfill the responsibilities required of directors. In assessing whether directors and director nominees have sufficient time and attention to devote to board duties, the Nominating and Governance Committee and the Board consider whether directors serve on an excessive number of public company boards, a situation frequently referred to as “overboarding.” Our Board believes that each of our directors has demonstrated the ability to devote sufficient time and attention to board duties and to otherwise fulfill the responsibilities required of our directors.

Information regarding each of the incumbent directors standing for re-election, including qualifications considered for each nominee, is set forth below. Directors’ ages are given as of the date of this Proxy Statement.

Under the Company’s Bylaws, a majority of all the votes cast at the virtual Annual Meeting is required for the election of each nominee in an uncontested election of directors. A majority of votes cast means the number of shares cast “for” a nominee’s election exceeds the number of votes cast “against” that nominee. Brokers do not have discretionary authority to vote on the election of directors. Abstentions and broker non-votes will have no effect on the outcome of the vote of the election of directors as they are not considered votes cast.

If a director nominee is an incumbent director and does not receive a majority of the votes cast in an uncontested election, that director will continue to serve on our Board as a “holdover” director but must tender his or her resignation to our Board promptly after certification of the election results of the stockholder vote. The Nominating and Governance Committee of our Board will then recommend to our Board whether to accept the resignation or whether other action should be taken. Our Board will act on the tendered resignation, considering the recommendation of our Nominating and Governance Committee, and our Board’s decision will be publicly disclosed within 90 days after certification of the election results of the stockholder vote. A director who tenders his or her resignation after failing to receive a majority of the votes cast will not participate in the recommendation of our Nominating and Governance Committee or the decision of our Board with respect to his or her resignation.

Our Audit Committee has appointed Ernst & Young LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024. Services provided to the Company and its subsidiaries by Ernst & Young LLP in fiscal 2023 are described below under “Audit Matters.”

Representatives of Ernst & Young LLP will be present at the virtual Annual Meeting via webcast. They will have the opportunity to make a statement if they desire to do so, and we expect that they will be available to respond to questions.

Ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP requires the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the shares present in person via attendance at the virtual Annual Meeting or represented by proxy at the virtual Annual Meeting and entitled to vote. Brokers, banks, and other nominees generally have discretionary authority to vote on this proposal. If you abstain from voting on this proposal, your abstention will have the same effect as a vote against the proposal. If the Company’s stockholders do not ratify the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP, our Audit Committee will reconsider the appointment and may affirm the appointment or retain another independent accounting firm, in its sole discretion. Even if the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP is ratified, our Audit Committee may in the future replace Ernst & Young LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm at any time if it determines that a change would be in our best interest.

The following table presents fees for audit, audit-related, tax and other services rendered by the Company’s principal independent registered public accounting firm, Ernst & Young LLP, for the years ended December 31, 2023, and 2022:

Consistent with Section 202 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and SEC rules regarding auditor independence, our Audit Committee pre-approves all audit and non-audit services provided by our independent registered public accounting firm. In 2023 and 2022, our Audit Committee pre-approved all amounts disclosed under “audit,” “audit-related,” “tax” and “all other” fees by Ernst & Young, LLP in accordance with applicable rules.

Our Audit Committee’s Auditor Independence Policy prohibits our independent registered public accounting firm from performing certain non-audit services and any services that have not been approved by our Audit Committee in accordance with the policy and the Section 202 rules. The policy establishes procedures to ensure that proposed services are brought before our Audit Committee for consideration and, if determined by our Audit Committee to be consistent with the auditor’s independence, approved prior to initiation, and to ensure that our Audit Committee has adequate information to assess the types of services being performed and fee amounts on an ongoing basis. Our Audit Committee has delegated to its Chair, Mr. Prann, the authority to pre-approve services between meetings when necessary, provided the full Audit Committee is apprised of the services approved at its next regularly scheduled meeting.

As part of its oversight of our financial statements, our Audit Committee reviews and discusses with both management and our independent registered public accounting firm all annual and quarterly financial statements prior to their issuance. With respect to the 2023 fiscal year, management advised the Audit Committee that each set of financial statements reviewed had been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) and reviewed significant accounting and disclosure issues with our Audit Committee. These reviews included discussion with the independent registered public accounting firm of matters required to

be discussed pursuant to Auditing Standard No. 1301 (Communications with Audit Committees), as amended, including the quality of our accounting principles, the reasonableness of significant judgments and the clarity of disclosures in the financial statements. Our Audit Committee also received the written disclosures and a letter from Ernst & Young LLP required by applicable requirements of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding its communications with our Audit Committee concerning independence and has discussed with Ernst & Young LLP its independence.

Also, with respect to fiscal 2023, our Audit Committee received periodic updates on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting provided by management, the independent registered public accounting firm, and the internal auditors at each regularly scheduled Audit Committee meeting and provided oversight during the process. At the conclusion of the process, management provided our Audit Committee with, and our Audit Committee reviewed a report on, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Our Audit Committee also reviewed Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting and Ernst & Young LLP’s Reports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023.

Taking all these reviews and discussions into account, the undersigned Committee members recommended to our Board that our Board approve the inclusion of our audited financial statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, for filing with the SEC.

Submitted by the Audit Committee:

John R. Prann, Jr., Chair

Donna M. Alvarado

Anne L. Mariucci

Devin I. Murphy

Pursuant to Section 14A of the Exchange Act, the Company seeks your non-binding advisory vote and asks that you support the compensation of our Named Executive Officers as disclosed in the Compensation Discussion and Analysis section (the “CD&A”) and the accompanying tables contained in this Proxy Statement. At our 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, our stockholders indicated on an advisory basis their preference that advisory votes to approve the compensation of our Named Executive Officers occur every year. Considering the non-binding advisory input of our stockholders and other relevant factors, our Board has determined to hold this advisory vote every year. The affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the shares present in person via attendance at the virtual Annual Meeting or represented by proxy at the virtual Annual Meeting and entitled to vote is required to approve the non-binding advisory vote of compensation paid to our Named Executive Officers. Broker non-votes will have no effect on the outcome of this proposal. If you abstain from voting on this proposal, your abstention will have the same effect as a vote against the proposal.

Because your vote is advisory, it will not be binding on our Compensation Committee. However, our Compensation Committee will review the voting results and take them into consideration when making future decisions regarding executive compensation for our Named Executive Officers. We urge you to read the CD&A, which begins on page 42 of this Proxy Statement, and other sections of this Proxy Statement that provide additional details on our executive compensation, including our compensation philosophy and objectives and the 2023 compensation of our Named Executive Officers.

As described in detail in the CD&A, our executive compensation programs are designed to ensure our executive officers are rewarded appropriately for their contributions to us, and that our overall compensation strategy supports the objectives and values of our organization, as well as stockholder interests. Our programs are designed to attract and retain executive leadership who will execute our business strategy, uphold our values and deliver results and long-term value to our stockholders. Our goal is to have a substantial portion of executive compensation contingent upon our performance.

Our Compensation Committee continually reviews the compensation programs for our Named Executive Officers to ensure our programs achieve the desired goals of aligning our executive compensation structure with our stockholders’ interests and current market practices. Our Compensation Committee has engaged an independent compensation consultant from time to time to assist it in reviewing and assessing, as well as providing advice and guidance on the design and market competitiveness of, our compensation strategies and plans.

We believe our executive compensation programs are structured in the best manner possible to align the interests of our management team with those of our stockholders in the management of our business, the pursuit of our strategic objectives and the creation of long-term value.

Stockholders are being asked to vote on the adoption of the following resolution:

RESOLVED: That the stockholders of CoreCivic, Inc. approve the compensation of the Company’s Named Executive Officers, as described in the Compensation Discussion and Analysis section and related compensation tables, notes and narrative in the Proxy Statement for the Company’s 2024 virtual Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

The following table sets forth our executive officers as of March 28, 2024:

Set forth below are the biographies of each of our current executive officers, except for Mr. Hininger, whose biography is set forth under “Proposal 1 – Election of Directors.”

David M. Garfinkle, age 56, has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since May 1, 2014. Mr. Garfinkle served as the Company’s Vice President of Finance and Controller from February 2001 to May 2014. From 1996 to 2001, Mr. Garfinkle served as Vice President and Controller for Bradley Real Estate, Inc., a publicly traded REIT. Prior to joining Bradley Real Estate, Inc., Mr. Garfinkle was a Senior Manager at KPMG Peat Marwick, LLP. Mr. Garfinkle is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from St. Bonaventure University. Mr. Garfinkle serves on the board of directors of Mobile Infrastructure Corporation, an internally-managed, publicly registered company that focuses on acquiring, owning and leasing parking facilities and related infrastructure, including parking lots, parking garages and other parking structures throughout the United States. Mr. Garfinkle also serves as a board member and as a member of the executive committee of Junior Achievement of Middle Tennessee, having previously served as the chair of that organization’s finance committee.

Patrick D. Swindle, age 48, has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer since December 2020. From January 2018 until December 2020, Mr. Swindle served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Corrections Officer. From October 2016 to January 2018, Mr. Swindle served as our Senior Vice President, Operations. From April 2014 to October 2016, Mr. Swindle served as our Vice President, Treasury and Strategic Development. From August 2013 to April 2014, Mr. Swindle served as our Vice President, Strategic Development. From July 2009 to August 2013, Mr. Swindle served as our Vice President and Treasurer. Mr. Swindle joined the Company in 2007 as Managing Director, Treasury. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Swindle spent 10 years in equity research in the equity capital markets divisions of SunTrust Equitable Securities, Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. and Avondale Partners, LLC. During his time as an equity analyst, Mr. Swindle focused his research on outsourced business services, government and healthcare industries, including partnership corrections. Mr. Swindle holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Western Kentucky University.

Anthony L. Grande, age 54, has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer since July 2008. From September 2007 to July 2008, Mr. Grande served as our Senior Vice President, State Customer Relations. Mr. Grande joined the Company in 2003 as Vice President, State Customer Relations. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Grande served as the Commissioner of Economic and Community Development for the State of Tennessee. Mr. Grande holds a bachelor’s degree from The American University and a master’s degree in education from Vanderbilt University.

Lucibeth N. Mayberry, age 52, has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer since October 2022. Prior to assuming that role, Ms. Mayberry served as Executive Vice President, Real Estate from May 2015 until October 2022. From November 2013 to May 2015, Ms. Mayberry served as our Senior Vice President, Real Estate. From August 2008 to November 2013, Ms. Mayberry served as our Vice President, Deputy Chief Development Officer. From March 2006 to August 2008, Ms. Mayberry served as our Vice President, Research, Contract and Proposals. Ms. Mayberry joined CoreCivic in May 2003 as Senior Director, State Partnership Relations, and was promoted to Managing Director, State Partnership Relations in 2004. Before joining the Company,

Ms. Mayberry served as a Senior Associate of the Taxation and Estate Planning Practice Group at the Nashville-based law firm Stokes, Bartholomew, Evans and Petree. Ms. Mayberry holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee, a juris doctor from Vanderbilt University, and a Master of Laws degree in taxation from the University of Florida.

David K. Churchill, age 60, has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer since August 2020. From May 2019 until August 2020, Mr. Churchill served as our Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. From September 2014 to May 2019, Mr. Churchill served as Vice President of Human Resources. Mr. Churchill joined the Company in August 2012 as senior director of Organizational Development. Mr. Churchill has over 30 years of experience in human resources, talent management, and organizational development, having served in various senior-level roles at Bank of America, Ingersoll Rand, and Tractor Supply Company. Mr. Churchill holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Eastern Illinois University, a Master of Business Administration from Aurora University, and a doctorate in organizational behavior from The George Washington University.

Cole G. Carter, age 55, has served as our Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary since May 2019. From July 2018 until May 2019, Mr. Carter served as our Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. From July 2006 to July 2018, Mr. Carter served as Associate General Counsel. Mr. Carter joined CoreCivic in 1992 as an academic instructor at Metro-Davidson County Detention Facility. Mr. Carter was promoted to manager of Educational Services at our Facility Support Center in May 1996, where Mr. Carter also served as director of Educational Services and joined our Legal Department in 2006. Since 2016, Mr. Carter has served as president of the CoreCivic Cares Fund, which provides short-term assistance to CoreCivic employees who are undergoing financial hardship. Mr. Carter holds a bachelor’s degree from Tennessee State University, a master’s degree from Middle Tennessee State University, and a juris doctor from Nashville School of Law.

This section of the Proxy Statement discusses the philosophy, objectives, and elements of our executive compensation programs and the compensation awarded to our Named Executive Officers (“NEOs”), consisting of our Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and our next three highest paid executives in 2023. This information should be read in conjunction with the Summary Compensation Table and the related tables and narratives that follow the Compensation Discussion and Analysis in this Proxy Statement. Based on SEC proxy disclosure rules, the following individuals were our NEOs for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023:

Our Company and Strategy

We are the nation’s largest owner of partnership correctional, detention, and residential reentry facilities, we are also one of the largest prison operators in the United States and we are the second largest community corrections owner and operator in the United States. Through three segments, CoreCivic Safety, CoreCivic Community and CoreCivic Properties, we provide a broad range of solutions to government partners that serve the public good through corrections and detention management, a network of residential reentry centers to help address America’s recidivism crisis, and government real estate solutions.

Our principal corporate objective is creating long-term value for our stockholders by pursuing avenues to profitably grow our primary CoreCivic Safety correctional and detention business while diversifying our revenues and cash flows by prudently expanding our CoreCivic Community and CoreCivic Properties businesses.

Despite the challenging labor market and the uncertainties surrounding post-pandemic border policies, we expanded existing partner relationships, established new partner relationships, renewed several significant contracts, and completed numerous other transactions and milestones, including the following:

Our stock price increased from a closing price of $11.56 at fiscal year-end 2022 to $14.53 at fiscal year-end 2023. We believe our stock price was positively impacted by the continuing successful execution of our capital allocation strategy and our achievement of occupancy growth within new and existing partner relationships despite certain COVID-19 occupancy restrictions, which remained in place during most of the first half of 2023, and a challenging labor market.

Our total stockholder return (“TSR”) for 2023 and the three-year and five-year periods ended December 31, 2023, and ranking within our peer group (as set forth under Compensation Discussion and Analysis—Process for Determining Compensation—Independent Review and Use of Market Data—Peer Group Review and Update), are presented below. On March 18, 2024, our closing stock price was $14.52.

Pay for performance is an important component of our longstanding executive compensation philosophy. Our compensation approach is designed to attract, retain, and motivate qualified, knowledgeable, and talented executives. Compensation is provided using a balanced mix of short-term and long-term incentives because we believe that this balance drives leadership decisions that continuously strengthen our Company and focus on returning value to stockholders.

As each year’s executive compensation program goals are set, our Compensation Committee considers our Company’s external challenges and opportunities, examining not only opportunities for desirable business outcomes, but also opportunities for our Company to contribute to the improvement of the lives of those entrusted to our care and the career development of our workforce. The Compensation Committee also strives to align financial targets and NEO incentives with the most important aspects of our Company’s capital allocation and growth strategies.

In 2019, with the assistance of Exequity, our Compensation Committee led a comprehensive review and redesign of the Company’s executive compensation program. We believe the 2019 redesign of the Company’s executive compensation program built upon the strong foundation established under prior executive compensation policies, while creating proper incentives for our executives to achieve corporate and strategic objectives and to maximize stockholder value over the long-term and to align pay with stockholders’ interests. In 2021, the Compensation Committee, with the assistance of Exequity, reviewed the Company’s existing executive compensation program for changes it should implement as a result of the Company’s conversion from a REIT to a taxable C Corporation, effective January 1, 2021. While the structure of the Company’s executive compensation program itself did not change, Exequity recommended that the Compensation Committee adopt changes to the Company’s peer group to better align the peer group with the Company’s revocation of its REIT election and conversion to a taxable C Corporation. The Compensation Committee adopted this recommendation (see Compensation Discussion and Analysis—Process for Determining Compensation—Independent Review and Use of Market Data—Peer Group Review and Update and Compensation Discussion and Analysis—Long-Term Incentive Compensation—Peer Group for Determining rTSR Modifier for Performance-Based RSU Awards).

Consistent with the 2019 objectives, our Compensation Committee has developed and approved an executive compensation program providing for a range of compensation for our executives, with the intent of rewarding strong performance and reducing incentive compensation when our performance objectives are not achieved. For 2023, the overall program did not change, but the Compensation Committee did review the peer group to ensure it was still appropriate. For a detailed discussion of our short-term and long-term incentive programs, see the Executive and Director Compensation—NEO Compensation for 2023—Annual Cash Incentive Plan and Executive and Director Compensation—NEO Compensation for 2023—Long-Term Incentive Compensation sections, respectively, of this Proxy Statement.

The charts below illustrate the balance of target total compensation during 2023 for the CEO and the average of the other NEOs:

Elements of CEO and Other NEO Average Target Compensation⁽¹⁾

 

As the charts above indicate, a significant portion of our NEOs’ total target compensation is performance-based. We believe this mix of total direct compensation reflects a strong pay-for-performance design of our executive compensation program.

The following table provides a summary of the types of compensation provided to our CEO and our other NEOs.

In designing our compensation programs, we are mindful of the risks to our stockholders that may be inherent in our compensation programs, and we attempt to utilize compensation practices that mitigate these risks. In designing our compensation programs, we also have considered feedback from our investors and relevant third parties. Our compensation program includes the following compensation practices:

At our 2023 virtual Annual Meeting of Stockholders, our stockholders overwhelmingly approved the compensation of our NEOs with more than 96.2% of the votes cast voting in favor of our advisory “say on pay” proposal. Our Compensation Committee and the Company view these results as an indication that our stockholders support our executive compensation policies. Nonetheless, our Compensation Committee regularly evaluates our executive compensation plans and policies, compensation best practices and market compensation trends, and considers alternatives for strengthening the alignment of our executive compensation program with our compensation philosophy and objectives, our business strategy, competitive market practices and long-term stockholder value creation. The comprehensive plan design described in this Proxy Statement reflects both an acknowledgement of stockholder support for the Company’s executive compensation approach and the desire of our Compensation Committee to continuously refine our executive compensation program in accordance with the factors listed above.

The foundational philosophy of our executive compensation program is to provide a total mix of compensation, comprising base salary, annual cash incentive compensation, long-term equity-based incentive awards and other benefits, which enables us to attract, retain and motivate, qualified, knowledgeable, and talented executive leadership that will execute our business strategy, uphold our values, deliver positive results and create long-term value for our stockholders. Accordingly, our Compensation Committee develops compensation strategies and programs that will attract, retain, and motivate qualified, knowledgeable and talented executives through compensation that is:

Our Compensation Committee establishes and regularly reviews our compensation philosophy and programs, exercises authority with respect to the determination and payment of base and incentive compensation to executive officers and administers our Amended and Restated 2020 Stock Incentive Plan (the “2020 Plan”). Our Compensation Committee annually reviews executive compensation and our compensation programs to ensure our CEO and the other executive officers are rewarded appropriately for their contributions to our success, and our overall compensation strategy supports the objectives and values of our organization, as well as stockholder interests. Our Compensation Committee conducts this review and makes compensation decisions through a comprehensive process involving a series of meetings primarily occurring in the first and second quarters of each year. Compensation Committee meetings typically are attended by our Compensation Committee members, our Chair of the Board, our CEO and, upon request, the Compensation Committee’s independent compensation consultant. As with all Board committees, other Board members also have a standing invitation to attend our Compensation Committee’s meetings. Our CEO generally makes recommendations to our Compensation Committee regarding equity awards for the executive officers other than himself. Our Compensation Committee meets in executive session to the extent the members deem necessary or appropriate to ensure independent analysis and determinations. For example, executive sessions are generally convened to discuss the CEO's compensation and the Committee's evaluation of the CEO's performance outside the presence of the CEO and other members of management. Additional information regarding our Compensation Committee and its meetings is included above under Corporate Governance—Board Meetings and Committees.

In making executive compensation determinations, our Compensation Committee performs an overall analysis of each executive’s individual job performance, position, experience, and level of responsibilities, impact on the execution of our strategy, contributions to our corporate performance, job tenure, and potential. The Compensation Committee relies on its general experience and subjective considerations of various factors, including our strategic business goals, information with respect to the peer group set forth below, proprietary and publicly available compensation surveys, and data with respect to other public companies provided by our compensation consultant, Exequity.

Our Compensation Committee does not set specific targets or utilize any formulaic benchmarks for overall compensation or for allocations between fixed and performance-based compensation, cash and non-cash compensation or short-term and long-term

compensation. In addition, our Compensation Committee uses proprietary and publicly available compensation surveys and data with respect to other public companies provided by Exequity to obtain a general understanding of current compensation practices, including to confirm that the base salary and other elements of target total compensation opportunity for our executive officers are at a market-competitive level.

Our Compensation Committee does not specifically target or benchmark in any formulaic manner any element of compensation or the total compensation payable to NEOs based on the foregoing factors.

Based on these objectives, our Compensation Committee has determined we should provide our executives with compensation packages comprising these primary elements:

Benefits and perquisites play a limited role in our executives’ total compensation packages. Our Compensation Committee believes that, because our balance of long-term and short-term incentives and our use of performance-based and time-based RSUs that provide a tie to our stockholders’ interests and our stock ownership guidelines, our executive compensation programs currently serve our compensation philosophy and objectives well.

Our Compensation Committee has engaged an independent compensation consultant, Exequity, to assist in reviewing compensation strategies and plans and to provide proprietary and publicly available compensation surveys and data with respect to other public companies. When requested, Exequity works directly with the Chair of our Compensation Committee and as directed by the Chair of our Compensation Committee, with our CEO and other executive officers. Exequity representatives also attend Compensation Committee meetings when requested by the Compensation Committee. Exequity was selected due to its extensive experience in providing compensation consulting services and its status as a nationally recognized advisor on executive and director compensation programs.

At our Compensation Committee’s request, Exequity has from time to time performed compensation analyses, including peer and market comparisons, internal pay equity assessments, updating of the executive salary structure, and modeling of executive compensation levels at different levels of Company performance. These analyses and input from Exequity have assisted our Compensation Committee in determining whether our strategies and plans were advisable based on the Company’s current financial position and Strategic Business Goals, competitive with our peers and consistent with current practices in corporate governance and compensation design. Additional information regarding the engagement and independence of Exequity as independent compensation consultant to our Compensation Committee is included above under the heading Corporate Governance—Board Meetings and Committees.

In 2023, at the request of our Compensation Committee, Exequity assessed and recommended adjustments with respect to our peer group selection methodology and composition. In reviewing the existing peer group, the Compensation Committee sought to identify which of the Company’s 2022 peer group members were appropriate going forward.

In 2023, the Compensation Committee considered the recommendations of Exequity in its adoption of the following criteria for identifying appropriate companies to include in our peer group:

Applying the foregoing selection criteria and Exequity’s recommendations for potential peer group companies, and considering the Company’s overall compensation strategy, our Compensation Committee identified several new peers and removed several peers as well. In adding new peers, the Compensation Committee sought to include additional companies serving security and law enforcement clients as well as companies identified as potential targets for ideological activism. In removing peers, the Compensation Committee sought to remove peers whose business changes, such as an acquisition necessitated removal; whose size or scale suggested inclusion was no longer appropriate; and whose business was deemed not sufficiently comparable with our business.

The peer group used by our Compensation Committee for 2023 therefore consisted of the following companies.

While none of our peer group companies met all the selection criteria above, each peer group company met five or more of the selection criteria. At the time the Compensation Committee reviewed the peer group, our revenue was at approximately the 37th percentile when compared with the revenue of our peers.

The primary components of the 2023 compensation program for our NEOs were:

We seek to provide base salaries for our executive officers that provide a secure level of guaranteed cash compensation in accordance with their experience, skills, performance, and job roles and responsibilities. Typically, in the second quarter of each year, our Compensation Committee reviews and, if applicable, approves an annual salary plan for our executive officers, considering several factors, including prior year’s salary, responsibilities, tenure, individual performance, salaries paid by companies in our peer group for comparable positions, the Company’s overall pay scale, and the Company’s recent and projected financial performance.

Our Compensation Committee also solicits the views and recommendations of our CEO, in consultation with our Chair, when setting the base salaries of the other executive officers, given their respective insight into internal pay equity and positioning matters, as well as executive performance. At a Compensation Committee meeting typically held in the second quarter of each year, our CEO summarizes his assessment of the performance during the previous year of each of the other executive officers. Our CEO, in consultation with our Chair, also provides his recommendations on any compensation adjustments. Our Compensation Committee approves any base salary adjustments for these executives based on factors such as the competitive compensation analysis, our CEO’s assessment of individual performance, the Company’s performance, the location of the executive’s current salary within the applicable salary range, general market conditions, and internal pay equity considerations.

The process is similar for determining any base salary adjustments for our CEO, except our CEO does not provide our Compensation Committee with a recommendation. Our CEO presents a self-assessment of his performance during the year to our Compensation Committee, which then approves any base salary adjustment based on the factors described above with respect to our other executives. To the extent it deems necessary and appropriate, our Compensation Committee meets in executive sessions to discuss adjustments to the base salaries of our executive officers, including our CEO. Such adjustments typically take effect on or about July 1 of each year.

In 2023, base salary represented approximately 19.6% of our CEO’s total direct compensation package (and, on average, approximately 24.0% of our other NEOs’ total compensation package at target performance (calculated in the manner described on page 47)). Specifically, the Compensation Committee considered each NEO’s current base pay, considering base salary levels paid to persons holding similar positions at peer companies, as well as the relative responsibilities of each NEO role within our Company. Based on its review, the Compensation Committee determined that a 3.0% increase in Mr. Hininger’s base salary was necessary to continue to maintain a market-competitive level of compensation for Mr. Hininger, considering his experience level and job responsibilities. The Compensation Committee also increased the base salaries of the other NEOs by 3.0%, to maintain a market-competitive level of compensation for these executives, based on the review described above.

Based on its review of the factors described above, the Compensation Committee determined that the base salary amounts for the NEOs should be set at the following levels:

Our annual cash incentive plan provides our executive officers with an opportunity to earn cash compensation based on the extent to which objective performance targets set in advance by our Compensation Committee are met. In 2023, assuming performance at the target level of achievement, annual cash incentive compensation represented approximately 26.4% of our CEO’s total compensation package and, on average, 25.9% of our other NEOs’ total compensation packages (calculated in the manner described on page 47).

In 2023, our Compensation Committee concluded the competitiveness of our annual cash incentive plan for attracting, retaining, and motivating qualified, knowledgeable, and talented executives, as well as its alignment with our capital allocation and growth strategies, would be sustained by:

The Compensation Committee determined to use Adjusted EBITDA as a financial metric, because it is a primary metric used by the Company to assess performance and the Company’s ability to service and repay debt (a strategic focus of the Board of Directors and management team following the Company’s conversion from a REIT to a taxable C Corporation, effective January 1, 2021), and the Compensation Committee concluded that aligning incentive compensation with this metric would reinforce the Company’s business strategies. Adjusted EBITDA is not impacted by taxes and short-term financing decisions, such as debt refinancing and equity issuances or repurchases that are not reflective of operating performance.

The Compensation Committee believes that the Adjusted EBITDA performance metric properly places focus on the Company’s correctional, detention and residential reentry businesses conducted by the Safety segment and Community segment, as well as addresses the efficient and effective management of our Properties segment. Adjusted EBITDA is an amount calculated and presented on the basis of methodologies other than in accordance with GAAP. Please refer to Appendix A for further explanation and reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income, its most directly comparable GAAP measure.

The Compensation Committee also identified four short-term, high-impact goals and determined to tie a specific portion of the NEOs’ short-term incentive compensation opportunity to their achievement. In doing so, the Compensation Committee sought to specifically incentivize performance in pursuit of these high-impact goals. The short-term business goals (each a “Short-Term Goal,” and collectively the “Short-Term Goals”) specified for 2023 were:

Further, the Compensation Committee deemed it appropriate to cause any resulting cash bonus to which our NEOs were eligible to receive as a result of the achievement of the performance targets established for Adjusted EBITDA and/or the Short-Term Goals to be subjected to a Strategic Business Goals modifier, which may increase or decrease such cash bonus depending on the level of achievement of the Strategic Business Goals established by the Compensation Committee.

The Compensation Committee adopted objective Strategic Business Goals as a performance modifier to the annual cash incentive compensation because our Compensation Committee believes that value is returned to our stockholders when we invest in the lives and futures of our workforce and those entrusted to our care by our government partners.

Our Compensation Committee believes the addition of the Strategic Business Goals modifier strikes an appropriate balance in rewarding our executive officers for achieving positive financial results in the near-term, while strengthening their focus on the successful execution of our long-term growth strategy, as well as the development of both our workforce and those entrusted to our care by our government partners. Achievement of the Strategic Business Goals is determined by our Compensation Committee based on their assessment of our performance with respect to the Strategic Business Goals. For these reasons, the entirety of each NEO’s annual cash incentive bonus opportunity for 2023 was subjected to a modifier tied to achievement of the following four goals:

The Strategic Business Goals modifier can increase or decrease the amount of annual cash incentive compensation calculated based on Adjusted EBITDA and the Short-Term Business Goals, which could also result in annual cash incentive compensation above the maximums or below the minimums described below

Calculation of the Short-Term Cash Incentive

 

The table below sets forth the performance targets and corresponding percentage of base salary amounts to be awarded to our CEO and other NEOs based on the achievement of Adjusted EBITDA during the year ended December 31, 2023, as established by the Compensation Committee on February 16, 2023. Under this established framework, Adjusted EBITDA and the Short-Term Goals metric determine the percentage of the annual cash incentive award before such award is adjusted upward or downward based on the achievement of Strategic Business Goals:

Under the annual cash incentive opportunity, a failure to achieve the minimum bonus level in the Adjusted EBITDA category or a failure to achieve any of the Short-Term Goals results in zero bonus opportunity for that category. The CEO and NEOs may achieve a pro-rata share of the Short-Term Goals amount by satisfying one, two, or three of the four Short-Term Goal components. Similarly, achievement of performance above the maximum bonus level in the Adjusted EBITDA category results in a bonus opportunity at the maximum level only for that category. Assuming the achievement of Adjusted EBITDA at or above the minimum level, the percentage of salary awarded for performance falling between the listed achievement levels is determined by using straight-line interpolation. Because the Short-Term Goals category components are each success or failure only, there is no means by which an NEO could exceed that measure nor is any straight-line interpolation necessary or possible.

Cash incentive awards achieved under the 2023 Annual Cash Incentive Opportunity table above are further increased or decreased based upon the achievement of Strategic Business Goals established by our Compensation Committee on February 16, 2023, in accordance with the table below.

For 2023, we generated $311.0 million of Adjusted EBITDA. We failed to achieve any of the components of the Short-Term Goals. As a result, our CEO’s annual cash incentive opportunity using straight-line interpolation was 140.5% of base salary and our other NEOs’ annual cash incentive opportunity using straight-line interpolation was 112.4% of base salary, before the application of the Strategic Business Goals modifier. As indicated in the table below, the Compensation Committee determined that we achieved four of our Strategic Business Goals, which resulted in a Strategic Business Goals modifier of 1.2x.

The following table reflects our Compensation Committee’s determination of the appropriate modifier based on Strategic Business Goals established by the Compensation Committee on February 16, 2023:

Based on our 2023 performance, the following annual cash incentive plan compensation was awarded to our NEOs in February 2023:

Our pay mix is weighted toward equity compensation because we believe long-term, equity-based incentive compensation strengthens and aligns the interests of our executive officers with our stockholders. Equity incentive awards are generally granted to our executive officers on an annual basis. In 2023, long-term equity incentive compensation represented approximately 51.7% of our CEO’s total direct compensation package and, on average, approximately 48.0% of our other NEOs’ total compensation package (calculated in the manner described on page 47).

Our long-term equity incentive plan components are: