Shiv (weapon)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the knife-like weapon. For the Hindu God, see Shiva.

A prison shiv christened the "Throat cutter"

A shiv (from the Romani word chiv) is a slang term for a sharp or pointed implement used as an improvised knife-like weapon. The shiv is the favored weapon of inmates in prisons across the world. It is famous for its versatility - a shiv can be anything from a glass shard with cloth wrapped around one end to form a handle, to a razorblade stuck in the end of a toothbrush, to a sharpened spoon. Some inmates have even sharpened the ends of pork chop bones to make them into weapons.

A related term is shank or shift (shift, to shift, to be shifted). While the words are used interchangeably, the difference is that a shank is a type of shiv that is fashioned from the metal shank of a prison-issued boot or shoe. Since inmates were able to fashion effective shivs out of metal shanks, most (if not all) prisons no longer issue footwear with metal shanks. Many people have been killed by attackers using shanks while serving time in prison. Shank is sometimes also used as a verb, meaning "To stab someone, usually with a shiv, multiple times in a quick succession." Another related term is the Scottish slang word, chib. To chib is to stab or slash with a sharp weapon. The weapon can also be called a chib.

[edit] Popular culture

In Truman Capote's nonfiction novel In Cold Blood, Dick Hickock fashioned a shiv out of a toilet brush while imprisoned in the hopes of stabbing the undersheriff and escaping to Colorado. However, it was soon discovered under his mattress and confiscated.

The character Richard B. Riddick in the films Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick coined the term "shiv-happy". Shivs are a frequently used form of weapon in The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay

In the 2000 movie Chopper, based on the life of famed Australian criminal and best-selling author Mark Brandon Read, the legendary crime figure "shivs" a fellow inmate (a character based on Keith Faure), killing him. Though it's debatable that this ever happened as Chopper himself says "Never let the truth get in the way of a good yarn".

In the 2005/2006 Television show Prison Break shanks make various appearances throughout. In the HBO series Oz, shanks are used frequently to commit murders, attack inmates, or for other uses.

In the very final episode of the series Seinfeld, Jerry is doing a stand-up routine in prison and makes the joke "I mean when I was a kid my mother wanted me to play in the yard. But of course she didn't have to worry about my next door neighbor Tommy sticking a shiv in my thigh."

The Daily Show made light of the Cynthia McKinney's assault of a Capitol Policeman, part of which involved her throwing a cellphone at an officer, by saying that she was just showing off her new phone: The SHIV, by Motorola, in parody of the RAZR and ROKR which were new at the time.

In the 1996 movie Freeway, the character Vanessa, played by Reese Witherspoon, slashes a prison guard with a shiv she fashioned by melting and sharpening the bristles of a toothbrush.

In the Futurama episode "Three Hundred Big Boys," Scruffy the Janitor remarks, "Prison ain't so bad. You can make sangria in the terlet[sic]. 'Course it's shank or be shanked."