Higher Needs for Enacted Knowledge. The case of Belgian Prison Governors

Considering that Belgian prison policy has been characterized by an increase of managerial and legal regulations in the last fifteen years, this rise of “inscribed knowledge” (Freeman & Sturdy, 2015) leads to a sharper need of prison managers for “practical wisdom” (Chia and Holt, 2009). Two statements enlighten this paradoxical irony. Firstly, law and policy don't apply automatically, but must always be interpreted by human actors in relation to the situation. Secondly, the increase in legal and managerial demands reinforces prison governors’ more general inclinations to “satisficing” decisions (Simon, 1956). Drawing on two years of qualitative research with 30 Belgian prison governors, Christophe aims at analysing how prison governors are “enacting” prison policy and organisations (Weick, 1988), rather than being simply determined by it.