Baz Dreisinger

Baz Dreisinger is a full professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York and the founding director of Incarceration Nations Network, a global network for prison reform. Her work bridges higher education, criminal justice, the humanities and global policy.

She is a tenured Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, where she teaches literature, film, Caribbean and African-American studies, and courses examining crime, punishment, prisons, and mass incarceration. She holds a Ph.D. and M.Phil. in English from Columbia University and a B.A. in English and Philosophy from Queens College, where she graduated as valedictorian.

Dr. Dreisinger is the Founding Executive Director of Incarceration Nations Network (INN), a global network advancing prison reform and justice reimagining through culture, narrative change, education, and lived-experience leadership. Under her leadership, INN has built connections among formerly incarcerated leaders, educators, advocates, policymakers, and organizations in more than 135 countries. Its initiatives include the Global Freedom Fellowship, Global Freedom Scholars Network, Global Freedom Consulting, The Writing on the Wall, the Incarceration Nations global docuseries, and the INN Collection at Lived Places Publishing.

She is also the founder and former Academic Director of the Prison-to-College Pipeline at John Jay College, an innovative college-in-prison program designed to connect incarcerated students with higher education and the CUNY system. Her work has helped advance prison-university partnerships and education initiatives internationally.

Dr. Dreisinger is the author of Incarceration Nations: A Journey to Justice in Prisons Around the World, published in six languages, and Near Black: White-to-Black Passing in American Culture. She directed and produced Incarceration Nations: A Global Docuseries and has produced and written documentary films examining incarceration, race, policing, and popular culture. Her multimedia installation The Writing on the Wall, created in collaboration with artist Hank Willis Thomas, has been exhibited internationally.

A widely sought-after international speaker, Dr. Dreisinger has presented and delivered keynote addresses at universities, government and policy institutions, international conferences, and the United Nations. Her recent engagements include the launch of Global Freedom Consulting in Cape Town, the first national convening on higher education in prisons in Australia, and a keynote on prison education and policy in partnership with UNESCO.

Her honors include a Fulbright Specialist Scholar appointment, a Fulbright Global Scholar award, an Art for Justice grant, and numerous research and fellowship awards. Her work has been featured by major international media outlets, and she has appeared as an expert in documentaries including Ava DuVernay’s 13th and Fab 5 Freddy’s Grass Is Greener.