Wackenhut Corrections Corporation (WCC) was formed as a division of The Wackenhut Corporation (TWC) in 1984. George C. Zoley was instrumental to the development and marketing of correctional services to government agencies.

Receives first contract award, the Aurora Processing Center, providing secure residential care, for the federal government.

WCC incorporates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of TWC.

Enters the international market through the development of wholly-owned subsidiary, Australasian Correctional Management PTY Ltd. (ACM) (later renamed GEO Australia)

Entered the correctional services arena in the United Kingdom through a joint venture to form Premier Custodial Group Ltd. (PCGL), The cooperative enterprise provided clients with prisoner transportation, court custody, and correctional services. (The joint venture was discontinued by mutual agreement in 2003).

Wholly-owned subsidiary ACM was awarded its first contract to design, build, and operate the Junee Correctional Centre for the New South Wales Department of Corrective Services. This contract was the first privately operated correctional center in New South Wales.

Opens the world's largest in-prison therapeutic community chemical dependency treatment programs at the Kyle Correctional Center in Texas. The program provided intensive chemical dependency treatment.

In July, WCC goes public with an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of 2.2 million shares on the NASDAQ®.

Atlantic Shores Healthcare, Inc. (later renamed GEO Care) is created. This former wholly-owned subsidiary was formed to provide premier behavioral and mental health care services to state and local government agencies.

Receives award for the first privately operated facility by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP). The 2,048-bed Taft Correctional Institution opened in December 1997.

Wholly-owned subsidiary WCC Design Services Inc. (later renamed GEO Design Services) is formed, becoming the only company in the corrections industry to have an in-house design team.

Receives award to manage the first comprehensive privately-operated state psychiatric hospital in the US. Takes over the operation and management of the 335-bed South Florida State Hospital November 1998.

Co-creates Correctional Properties Trust (later known as CentraCore Properties Trust), a real estate investment trust. Formed to support the growing trend towards utilizing privately sourced capital in the corrections industry.

Establishes, via joint venture, South African Custodial Management (SACM) an operating arm of South African Custodial Services (SACS) in order to remedy overcrowding conditions for the government corrections system.

SACS awarded the first privatized correctional centre in South Africa. A 25-year contract for the design, construction, financing, operation, and maintenance of the Kutama Sinthumule Correctional Centre in South Africa began July 1999.

Group 4 Falck (now G4S) merges with The Wackenhut Corporation (WTC) and becomes the indirect owner of majority stake in WCC.

Completes repurchase of majority stake, 12 million shares of WCC common stock, from G4S. This historic transaction transformed WCC from a corporate subsidiary into a fully independent company with full access to the capital markets.

Officially changes name to The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO).

GEO is named a Florida Trend Magazine's Top 250 Public Company, a position still proudly held today.

GEO's Kutama Sinthumule Correctional Centre in South Africa became the first prison on the continent to obtain the International Standard Organization 9001:200 certification for the South African Bureau of Standards.

GEO reestablishes subsidiary, The GEO Group UK Ltd, in order to pursue new business opportunities in England, Scotland and Wales – the second largest private correctional market in the world.

GEO acquires Sarasota-based Correctional Services Corporation (CSC). Acquisition added 15 adult correctional facilities and others under development with a design capacity of approximately 8,000 beds in North America.

GEO’s NYSE ticker symbol was changed from GGI to GEO to further strengthen the company’s corporate identity.

GEO acquires CPT. This merger resulted in the ownership of 13 additional correctional facilities totaling over 8,000 beds.

GEO establishes in-house transportation division, GEO Transport, Inc. to help meet its customers' increasing need for secure transportation services.

GEO's former wholly-owned subsidiary, GEO Care, acquires Just Care, Inc. a medical and mental health service provider.

GEO acquires Cornell Companies. This merger resulted in a combined company with approximately $1.5 billion in annual revenues and approximately 78,000 beds under management, development and/or ownership.

GEO acquires BI Incorporated, a private provider of innovative compliance technologies, industry-leading monitoring services, and evidence-based supervision and treatment programs for community-based parolees, probationers, and pretrial defendants.

In 2012, GEO’s Riverbend Correctional Facility was selected as the first site to begin development of the “GEO Continuum of Care” program. Riverbend Correctional Facility started providing enhanced evidence-based programming and rehabilitation.

GEO begins operating as a Real Estate Investment Trust having completed all the necessary restructuring steps, including the divestiture of its healthcare facility operations under its former wholly-owned subsidiary, GEO Care, on December 31, 2012.

GEO-led Consortium awarded PPP Contract for the financing, development and operation of 1,300-Bed Ravenhall Prison in Australia. The new Ravenhall Facility will provide unprecedented levels of in-prison and post-release programs aimed at reducing reoffending rates under the “GEO Continuum of Care.”

On, January 26, 2015 GEO announced the acquisition of eight facilities totaling 6,500 beds from LCS Correction Services.

In April 2017, GEO completed the acquisition of Community Education Centers (CEC). CEC owns and/or manages over 12,000 beds nationwide. Following the acquisition, GEO will own and/or manage approximately 100,000 beds worldwide including more than 10,000 community reentry beds, making GEO the 5th largest correctional organization in the world.

The American Correctional Association Correctional Awards Committee selected the “GEO Continuum of Care” program at the Graceville Correctional and Rehabilitation Facility in Florida as the ACA 2018 “Innovation in Corrections” awardee.

The report builds on GEO’s Global Human Rights Policy, adopted in 2013, by providing disclosures on how GEO informs its employees of the company’s long-standing commitment to respecting human rights.