Corrections Corporation of America Rebrands as CoreCivic After DOJ Phase-Out Announcement and Undercover Exposé

Corrections Corporation of America announces it is rebranding as CoreCivic, claiming the name change reflects a “multi-year strategy to transform our business from largely corrections and detention services to a wider range of government solutions.” The rebranding comes two months after the Department of Justice announced plans to phase out private prisons and following a damning Mother Jones undercover investigation documenting violence, sexual abuse, and corruption at a CCA-run Louisiana prison.

CEO Damon T. Hininger presents the rebrand as business diversification, but critics note the CCA name had “become a liability due to its connection with higher levels of violence, sexual abuse, corruption and questionable cost savings at CCA-run prisons and jails.” The company’s new visual identity features a 13-stripe American flag stylized as a building, with angles representing 1983 (founding year) and 2016 (rebrand year)—a branding exercise attempting to wrap corporate profiteering in patriotic imagery.

The rebrand represents a cynical public relations maneuver to distance the company from decades of documented abuses while maintaining the same business model. CoreCivic reorganizes into three divisions: CoreCivic Safety (corrections/detention), CoreCivic Properties (government real estate), and CoreCivic Community (reentry centers). The name change allows the company to claim it’s “more than just prisons” while its core business remains locking humans in cages for profit. The DOJ announcement caused CCA’s stock to plummet, making the rebrand a crisis response to preserve investor confidence.