This article presents the results of a qualitative study on the effects of incarceration on the social exclusion in life stories of seven Aboriginal women in Québec. Findings indicate that, at the beginning of their life trajectory, three women evolved in a relatively stable family while four others lived in families experiencing multiple social problems. These group distinctions were practically maintained until initial contact with imprisonment, but grew increasingly blurred after the women’s contact with criminal detention. In final analysis, the weight of incarceration is significant in the exclusion of Aboriginal women. However, it must be correlated to individual living conditions as well as particular life trajectories which precede the actual prisoning process. These results put in perspective the postulate on which the studies on the effects of incarceration are usually based.