The sister of a man who was killed while serving time in New Brunswick for manslaughter is hoping that his words will help those heading down a similar path of addiction and criminality.

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Kayla Kenny says her brother Calvin was like any other kid growing up in Fermeuse. He had a loving, supportive family who provided well for him and his siblings.

His father coached him in basketball and karate and he was involved in sports and other activities. The trouble began says Kayla, when Calvin dropped out of school in Grade 9, because he was struggling with what the family believes was ADHD.

Kayla, who is studying elementary education in the United States, says her brother got introduced to drugs relatively early, and started making poor decisions that led him down a spiraling path.

In the Grip of Addiction

Kenny has been sharing her thoughts about addiction in the hopes that others in its grip can somehow get free. She’s also started to compile her brothers own letters and poetry that she says depicts a very different man than the one familiar to the public.

She cried as she explained that she didn’t really understand what it was like inside his head. While many people are expressing relief that someone like her brother is now gone, she says more needs to be done to help people who are in the grip of addiction.

She says many young men who served time with Kenny at HMP showed up for the wake and while she and her family were leery of them at first, it forced her to re-examine her feelings toward them. She says many came with flowers, wrote messages in the book of condolences and prayed by his casket.

She says she felt bad for feeling nervous around them because they’re going down the same road. She wondered how many times they would end up going to the funerals of family and friends, yet still keep making the same choices where drugs are “number one.”

Helping Others

She’s compiling Calvin’s letters and poems and has posted some of them to Facebook. She’s already had people reach out and tell her it’s making a difference in a situation that’s getting out of control.

She says despite what Calvin was doing, he had a lot of good messages to others about making the right choices. After posting one of his poems, she had a man message her who was in active addiction. He described feeling hopeless because he could not stay sober. She says after reading the poem he told her he had to keep trying to fight his addiction because he felt like he had written it himself.

She’s hoping the writings will be circulated among those struggling with addiction in the criminal justice system.