Ashiv (alsochiv[1] orshivvie) orshank[2][3] is an improvisedpointed or bladed weapon resembling aknife that is commonly associated with prison inmates.
The wordshiv is recorded from the 1670s (in the spellingchive) ascant for "knife."[4] The exact spellingshiv is recorded in underworld slang from 1915.[4] The cant word probably derives from theRomani wordchiv "blade" (compare Romanichivomengro "knifeman").[5][4] The derived verbto shiv means "to stab (someone) with a shiv," and ashivver is an archaic term for a criminal who attacks victims with a knife.[6]
Since weapons are prohibited in prisons, the intended mode of concealment is central to a shiv's construction. An especially thin handle, for instance, makes it easier to conceal in available cracks or crevices in the prison's construction, or in stacks of objects, such as books, permitted to the prisoners; however, this can also render the shiv difficult to grip and wield. Routinebody searches in prison make it difficult to conceal a shiv on one's person on a continuous basis. As well as the prison authorities, it is also desirable to conceal possession of a shiv from members ofrival prison populations.
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The wordshank is Americanprison slang for an improvised stabbing weapon. Shanks can be made in various ways: arazor blade stuck into the melted end of a toothbrush;[7]: 26a a metal bucket handle filed into a sharp point;[7]: 35a or simply a hank ofchicken wire twisted back on itself.[7]: 26a
The term apparently originates from the fact that in the 19th century men'sboots were (and mostwork boots still are) often equipped with a shank (that is, a central rib providingarch support) ofsteel, which could be extracted and improvised into a weapon. This threat was well known to prison guards in the 19th century, as shown by this description from 1882:
[Guiteau's] old shoes were taken from him and others promised him. The necessity for this rule requiring a prisoner to leave his boots or shoes which he wears on arrival at the jail with the officers, is found in the fact that in many boots and shoes are steel or iron shanks, which prisoners sharpen when they can get them, and make what are in prison slang known as "cheesers," with which they might do damage.[8]
In Guiteau's day the reported slang term wascheeser;[9][8] but the slang nounshank was in use by 1989.[7]
In theFederal Bureau of Prisons, weapons, sharpened instruments, and knives are considered contraband and their possession is punishable as a highest severity-level prohibited act.[10][page needed]
In Britain, the wordshiv may also be spelledchiv,[1] and the wordshank appears unknown.
In the 1950s, British criminalBilly Hill described his use of a "chiv":
I was always careful to draw my knife down on the face, never across or upwards. Always down. So that if the knife slips you don't cut an artery. After all, chivving is chivving, but cutting an artery is usually murder. Only mugs do murder.[1]
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)The knife is what is known to convicts as a "cheeser." It is made from the steel shank of a shoe ground sharp on both edges and to a point. The blade thus formed is about three inches long. By wrapping paper about the other end and binding it tightly with twine a stout handle is made and a very good knife and very ugly weapon is produced.
