I'd guess someone used him for some intellectual crime.
share* SPOILER*
If he's a pedophile, it may explain why he decided to stay behind.
-You may have a coronary..
- A coronary? My heart wouldn't dare attack me!
Do you even know what a pedophile is? There are no children in prison..
shareYou don't want to be in a prison if you are a pedophile, they're put on a list for who's getting screwed up by other inmates the worst.
shareI don't remember them ever stating why Lists was in prison, but I don't think he was a pedo cause another post made a good point about how pedos are first to be targeted in prison so he wouldn't have last that long.
If I had to guess I would say that he was put prison either for killing someone who pushed him too far or was wrongfully accused of a crime cause he isn't what some people would consider "normal".
A boat that floats on water can also sink in it.share
I'm pretty sure he said in the first one. He is a white crime crimnal. Can't remember what it was, but had something to do with his ability with numbers and odds.
shareAs two other posters said, he killed his mother. It says so in DR2 when he's forced into the gladiator fight on his "title card" graphic.
It actually adds a rather interesting touch that the guy who's mostly shown as a nervous, likeable "nerd" type is in for something so despicable (killing one's own mother is IMO much darker and less empathetic than, say, shooting someone during a robbery). Then again, given how the character is portrayed, it may be that his mother was abusive of him and he finally snapped and killed her in either "self defence" rather than purely cold blood.