If a president loses an election, can they still pardon a person or commute their prison sentence between November when they lose the election and January before the new president takes office? -
![President Obama Grants 153 Commutations and 78 Pardons to Individuals Deserving of a Second Chance | whitehouse.gov President Obama Grants 153 Commutations and 78 Pardons to Individuals Deserving of a Second Chance | whitehouse.gov](https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/images/chart_121916_commutations.jpg)
President Obama Grants 153 Commutations and 78 Pardons to Individuals Deserving of a Second Chance | whitehouse.gov
![Executive inaction: States and the federal government fail to use commutations as a release mechanism | Prison Policy Initiative Executive inaction: States and the federal government fail to use commutations as a release mechanism | Prison Policy Initiative](https://static.prisonpolicy.org/images/ma_commutations_05to21.png)