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The birth of the first child is often seen as a biographical turning point. But the intensity of the event differs according to the person defining it and the place they attribute to it in their biographical construction. Imprisonment stands as a disruption in life histories. Seen from the eyes of inmate fathers, this perception of events appears less unequivocal and more complex. Focusing on two space-time dimensions – the past spent outside through the accession to parenthood and the present spent in prison – I have sought to identify the parental trajectory of a type of father in prison who I refer to as “marginal”. Several key questions emerge. Is there a turning point between the pre-imprisonment situation and the moment of imprisonment? Can imprisonment be seen as a biographical incident for imprisoned fathers? Are the parenting practices of the latter disrupted by incarceration? In response, my work is based on repeated interviews with 31 inmates in two prisons and two detention centres. The findings show disrupted conjugal, parental and social trajectories. The individuals in question prepare only minimally for parenthood and become parents at a time when they are deeply involved in criminal activity. When imprisoned – an event seen as both an inevitability and rite of passage – paternity becomes secondary and depends above all on the mediation of the mother.