Why was Alex Summers in prison?

Question

Towards the beginning of X-Men: First Class, Charles and Erik visit a prison to recruit Alex Summers (later taking the moniker of Havok), but I don't recall any explanation offered as to why he's located there.

Chief Warden: What the hell does the government want with a guy like Alex Summers? I hope you're not planning on putting him with others. First guy I've ever met who actually prefers solitary confinement.

I assume he prefers the SHU to prevent accidentally harming anyone since he's shown to have difficulty controlling his energy blasts. But as far as I know, prisons aren't run like hotels and don't offer cells for rent, so he must have broken the law to get there. What crime did he commit? Is there any explanation (in or out of universe) for his incarceration?

Answer 1

Marvel Wikia (generally pretty reliable) mentions that he is in prison for killing the man who attempted to abduct him and his sister.

Alex Summers was a mutant who was placed in prison for killing the man who had abducted him and his sister.

But this information is unsourced.

However, Lucas Till did an interview with IGN where he explained that Alex killed the man who kidnapped and threatened his foster-sister. While he does not specify that that is the reason he is in prison, the backstories do match up otherwise. It's not unreasonable to assume he is in prison for killing this man.

IGN: Does Havok have a dark side?

Till: Definitely. When Havok first discovers his power in this one it's because his foster sister has been kidnapped by a bully and who is threatening her with death and all of a sudden he comes out and kills this guy. He's a guy who likes a fight, but also, he doesn't want that much of a fight. He doesn't want to accidentally kill people, and that's something he's always got to deal with. He likes the power but he doesn't like the lack of control he has over his ability.

It should be noted that in the final cut, this was all missing, and Alex's backstory seems to have been retconned with X-Men: Apocalypse.