A shiv made from a cement screw
A Shiv (from the Romani word chiv), or shank is an impromptu knife or other stabbing weapon made with any materials available at hand. They can be fashioned from toothbrushes, rib bones, pieces of bed springs, etc. Shivs or shanks are typically a part of a prison inmate's "arsenal", and are usually used once, then disposed of.
Term Confusion[]
In the past, a weapon of this type was called a shiv. It was only called a shank if it was made from the metal "shank" of either a prison shoe, or bed spring. Shank is a verb used to denote the actual use of the weapon. In modern times, however, the word shank is often used in county jails and some prisons to describe any stabbing weapon as well as the act of stabbing.
Criminal Minds[]
Non-Criminal[]
The following non-criminal characters use/used Shivs
- Season Twelve
- Spencer Reid - Reid fashioned his own Shiv for self-defense against the inmates of the jail he had been wrongfully sentenced to.
Criminal[]
The following criminals used Shivs in their crimes.
- Season Five
- Connor O'Brien ("Public Enemy") - A serial-turned-spree killer and one-time cop killer who stabbed his father to death with a Shiv while incarcerated.
- Season Seven
- Rodney Baines Garrett ("Divining Rod") - A prolific serial killer who stabbed two inmates to death with their own Shivs.
- Season Ten
- Patrick Butler ("Lockdown") - A rapist and bank robber-turned-serial killer and cop killer who killed two of his victims with a Shiv
- Season Twelve
- The Millburn Correctional Facility Inmates ("Alpha Male", "Assistance Is Futile", "In the Dark", and "Green Light") - A number of inmates here used Shivs. First, they were used by Milos and his gang in an attempt to kill Reid ("Alpha Male"). Then, Frazier and Duerson used a shiv while confronting Luis Delgado, but they never used it against him ("Assistance Is Futile"). Frazier later slashed Luis's throat with a shiv and left him to bleed to death ("In the Dark"). Calvin Shaw later stabbed Reid's leg with a shiv at Reid's intentional provocation.