MEMORANDUM**

Mario Lewis, a California state prisoner, appeals pro se the district court’s dismissal without prejudice of his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint and action alleging that prison officials violated his constitutional rights. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review de novo, Barren v. Harrington, 152 F.3d 1193, 1194 (9th Cir. 1998) (order), and we vacate and remand.

The district court dismissed Lewis’s action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a) for failure to exhaust his administrative remedies for at least two of his claims. We vacate and remand because we have since held that section 1997e(a) does not impose a pleading requirement on the inmate, but rather constitutes an affirmative defense that must be raised and proven by the defendants. See Wyatt v. Terhune, 315 F.3d 1108,1118-19 (9th Cir. 2003).

VACATED and REMANDED.