Fremantle Prison > Records
SHIV
Overview
Small, heavily corroded, metal shiv with tape handle. Small, corroded, piece of metal fashioned into a long, tapered blade coming to a sharp point. The opposite end of the blade has a thick layer of cream and gold coloured, degraded, tape wrapped around it, forming an improvised handle.
Historical information
This shiv was found jammed into the north corner of the window frame in cell G7, Division 1 of the Main Cell Block, by Thuroona Industries during conservation works on 15 October 2019.
Details
Details
Registration number
cwa-org-89-2019.76
Item type
Material
Contextual Information
Illicit improvised weapons, as well as everyday innocuous items that have been modified by prisoners to turn them into weapons, are known in prison slang as a 'shiv'.
Primary significance criteria
Historic significance
Artistic or aesthetic significance
Scientific or research significance
Social or spiritual significance
Comparative significance criteria
Interpretive capacity
Object’s condition or completeness
Rare or representative
Well provenanced
