The GEO Group Announces Appointment of Gary Johnson as Regional Vice President of GEO's Central Region

The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO) ("GEO”) announced today the appointment of Gary Johnson as Regional Vice President of GEO’s Central Region, which oversees GEO’s current operations in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana and is responsible for business development activities in the central United States. Mr. Johnson will begin his duties as Regional Vice President on January 2, 2008. George C. Zoley, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of GEO said: "We are very fortunate to have Gary Johnson join our management team as Regional Vice President of our Central Region. As a former Executive Director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Mr. Johnson has extensive experience managing a large and complex correctional organization. Mr. Johnson’s expertise and background give him outstanding qualifications to lead our efforts to provide high quality detention and correctional services that meet our clients’ needs and help address the increased demand for detention and correctional bed space in the Central Region of the United States.” Gary Johnson joins The GEO Group after 28 years of public service with the State of Texas, Department of Criminal Justice ("TDCJ”). Mr. Johnson joined TDCJ, then the Texas Department of Corrections, in 1973 as a correctional officer. After a brief break in service, Mr. Johnson rejoined TDCJ in 1977 and was promoted to sergeant in 1980. Between 1982 and 1985, Mr. Johnson served as a Member of the Mail System Panel and as a Legal Affairs and Compliance Officer for TDCJ. In 1985, Mr. Johnson was promoted to assistant warden at TDCJ’s Ferguson Unit, and in 1989, he was appointed senior warden at the Galveston Hospital Unit. Mr. Johnson also served as Warden at the Clemens Unit and at the Ferguson Unit before being appointed as TDCJ’s Regional Director for South Texas in 1995 and later as Director of TDCJ’s Institutional Division in 1996. Mr. Johnson was named Executive Director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in August 2001 and served in that position until his retirement in late 2004. Mr. Johnson holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminology and Corrections from Sam Houston State University. The GEO Group, Inc. ("GEO") is a world leader in the delivery of correctional, detention, and residential treatment services to federal, state, and local government agencies around the globe. GEO offers a turnkey approach that includes design, construction, financing, and operations. GEO represents government clients in the United States, Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. GEO’s worldwide operations include the management and/or ownership of 68 correctional and residential treatment facilities with a total design capacity of approximately 59,000 beds, including projects under development. This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events and future performance of GEO that involve risks and uncertainties that could materially affect actual results, including statements regarding estimated earnings, revenues and costs and our ability to maintain growth and strengthen contract relationships. Factors that could cause actual results to vary from current expectations and forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, but are not limited to: (1) GEO’s ability to successfully pursue further growth and continue to enhance shareholder value; (2) GEO’s ability to access the capital markets in the future on satisfactory terms or at all; (3) risks associated with GEO’s ability to control operating costs associated with contract start-ups; (4) GEO’s ability to timely open facilities as planned, profitably manage such facilities and successfully integrate such facilities into GEO’s operations without substantial costs; (5) GEO’s ability to win management contracts for which it has submitted proposals and to retain existing management contracts; (6) GEO’s ability to obtain future financing on acceptable terms; (7) GEO’s ability to sustain company-wide occupancy rates at its facilities; and (8) other factors contained in GEO’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including the forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K reports.