Moralez v. Davis

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

RUDOLPH MORALEZ, T00602, Case No. 20-cv-08130-CRB (PR) Petitioner, ORDER DISMISSING PETITION FOR A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS V. WITHOUT PREJUDICE

RON DAVIS, Warden, (ECF No. 2)

Respondent.

Petitioner, a state prisoner at San Quentin State Prison (SQSP) and frequent litigant in federal court, has filed a pro se petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging various conditions of his confinement at SQSP during the current pandemic. Based on petitioner’s affidavit of poverty, his motion for leave to proceed in forma 14 pauperis under 28 U.S.C. § 1915 (ECF No. 2) is GRANTED. But the petition for a writ of habeas corpus is DISMISSED without prejudice to filing a civil rights complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. A 16 It is well established in the Ninth Circuit that habeas jurisdiction is absent, and a § 1983 17 action proper, where, as here, a successful challenge to a prison condition or event will not 18 necessarily shorten the prisoner’s sentence. See Ramirez v. Galaza, 334 F.3d 850, 859 (9th Cir. 2003); see also Badea v. Cox, 931 F.2d 573, 574 (9th Cir. 1991) (civil rights action is proper method of challenging conditions of confinement). Petitioner’s challenge to various conditions of his confinement at SQSP during the current pandemic accordingly should be brought in a civil rights complaint under § 1983.

The clerk is instructed to send plaintiff a blank prisoner’s civil rights complaint form and to close this case.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: February 2, 2021

AsO

CHARLES R. BREYER

United States District Judge