Jose Morales v. K. Cruse

Jose Luis Morales, a California state prisoner, appeals pro se from the district court’s judgment dismissing his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action alleging constitutional violations in connection with his placement in the Behavioral Management Unit (“BMU”) at Pelican Bay State Prison. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We review de novo a dismissal on the basis of mootness, Alvarez v. Hill, 667 F.3d 1061, 1063 (9th Cir.2012), and we consider sua sponte whether a party lacks standing, Stormans, Inc. v. Selecky, 586 F.3d 1109, 1119 (9th Cir.2009). We may affirm on any ground supported by the record. Thompson v. Paul, 547 F.3d 1055, 1058-59 (9th Cir.2008). We affirm.

The district court properly determined that Morales’s claims for injunctive and declaratory relief were moot because the record indicates that Morales has been released from the BMU and that the BMU has been eliminated at Pelican Bay. See Alvarez, 667 F.3d at 1063-65 (injunctive and declaratory relief became moot upon inmate’s release from custody because he was no longer subject to the prison conditions or policies he challenged, and exceptions to mootness did not apply); Dilley v. Gunn, 64 F.3d 1365, 1368 (9th…