What if someone serving time in prison gets elected president?
<p>What if someone serving time in a <em>state</em> prison gets elected president? Can he order himself to be released (be it via a pardon or on the grounds of national security)?</p>
<p>Assuming he could not do this, would his vice president take over for the duration of the term, or while the president is incarcerated?</p>
<p>Would the answer be different if it's a federal prison?</p>

<h2>A Presidential Pardon does not affect the States at all</h2>
<p>A president clearly can not pardon himself for a state crime, because the president does not have that as an enumerated power. Presidential pardons are limited in the Constitution, Article II Section 2 Clause 1.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The President... shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for <strong>Offenses against the United States</strong>, except in Cases of Impeachment.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A person convicted of a state crime is not convicted of an offense against the United States, and thus, the conviction does not become moot by a presidential pardon. He stays incarcerated, as he is still convicted in the state prison and not pardoned of the state crime.</p>
<p>It takes a pardon from the state's governor to pardon a crime on the state level.</p>
<h2><a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/22562/can-president-of-the-united-states-pardon-himself-if-convicted-of-treason-or-som">It's unclear if a president can pardon themselves</a></h2>
<p><a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/a/22571/10334">Ohwilleke's excellent answer</a> covers the problem of a person being president trying to pardon themselves of a federal crime.</p>

united-states constitutional-law us-constitution president pardon