Dr. Reynaldo Ortíz-Minaya, born in the Dominican Republic, is Director of Criminology and Assistant Professor at Howard University, specializing in Caribbean penal systems and global justice reform. His research examines the lasting impact of colonization on the Spanish Caribbean, focusing on slavery, social regulation, political economy, and ethno-racial labor formation. He explores how forced labor systems evolved into modern penal punishment.

His forthcoming book, From Plantation to Prison: Visual Economies of Slave Resistance, Criminal Justice, and Penal Exile in the Spanish Caribbean, 1820–1886, investigates the link between slavery’s expansion in Cuba and the rise of prisons in Puerto Rico during the nineteenth century.

A Fulbright U.S. Scholar to Jamaica and Fulbright Specialist with research experience in Pakistan, Bulgaria, Hungary, South Africa, the Palestinian Territories, and the Caribbean, Dr. Ortíz-Minaya studies the historical ties between confinement and economic profit under various systems.

He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in Historical Sociology from Binghamton University and a B.A. in Sociology and Latin American Studies from Drew University. He has organized international symposia, secured over $90,000 in funding for Fulbright initiatives, and serves on boards advancing penal reform and education. An active member of the Greater New York Chapter of the Fulbright Association, he is a leader in academic diplomacy and international collaboration.