Research on fatherhood among fathers serving custodial sentences Finland is a neglected topic. In this article we contribute to flling this gap by investigating the meanings imprisoned fathers attribute to their fatherhood and the emotions evoked by the combination of imprisonment and fatherhood. Interviews (N=14) were conducted in a Finnish closed prison and in open custodial institutions. The data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The analysis yielded two categories of emotions: giving strength and the loss of strength. The fathers’ strong emotional talk projected an image of fatherhood as a powerful and important issue in a man’s life. It also seems that despite the many emotional tensions related to being a father and serving a prison sentence, the fathers’ talk about their fatherhood was tightly bound to the cultural ideal of ‘good father’