Anderson, a confessed drug addict, has complained that he was left to suffer for months as he awaited vital drug rehabilitation treatment at Westgate Correctional Facility.

And he has warned that even after going through the Offenders Substance Abuse Programme (OSAP) he remained ill and dangerous to society.

Thirty-seven-year-old Anderson had sent a lengthy letter to Public Safety Minister Paula Cox back in June, but said he had heard nothing since.

In a last ditch effort to receive help, he wrote to The Royal Gazette and sent a copy of the letter to the Minister.

Of major concern to Anderson is that he will re-offend.

"I will return to crime to support my drug habit if I don't get some sort of assistance to deal with my sickness,'' he admitted.

"I'm currently doing an eight-year sentence for committing 14 indictable offences, namely five armed robberies with a knife, stabbing a Police officer and other serious offences I wasn't caught for.'' In his letter to Ms Cox, Anderson explained that the former Public Safety Minister, Maxwell Burgess, had placed an order for him to be put in the OSAP substance abuse programme in the prison.

"I received my reply from the Minister on October 19, 1998, but didn't get placed in the OSAP class until the second week of March 1999,'' Anderson said.

"I feel someone should be held accountable for such a miscarriage of justice.'' "Three OSAP classes started and finished after I received an answer from the Minister,'' he continued, "and I wasn't put in any of them after asking repeatedly why I'm not being allowed to participate when the Minister had ordered it.'' Having now finished the programme, Anderson alleged that it was not designed to work.

"The six-week OSAP programme was not adequate enough for me,'' he said.

"Maybe it's because I've been using hard drugs for 22 years. The OSAP programme is not working and to be quite honest I don't think it was intended to work.'' "I think it is a programme that was put quickly in place to appease the public and give them a false sense of security and have them believe the prison system is doing something to help all drug addicts who are sent to Westgate to serve time and receive help for their sickness,'' he claimed.

"The prison system knows the programme is not working and wasn't intended to work. They are holding the country at ransom.'' Anderson also warned of the impact of the situation on the younger inmates.

"If the prison administration has the audacity to try and pull this nonsense on me, someone who has been in the prison system for close to 23 years, what chance do these young men have?'' he said.

"They, the young men will only be back and forward to Westgate. The Westgate administration and the prison system as a whole need to pay attention and pick their game up and become accountable and stop playing games with people's children.'' Acting Prisons Commissioner Hubert Dean explained that due to over subscription there were delays with getting inmates in the OSAP classes.

"Only eight to ten at a time can take a class,'' he said. "He may have been overlooked, but we ensured that inmates got in at the earliest available date.'' Ms Cox confirmed that she was in receipt of the letter and had made inquiries about Anderson's concerns.

She explained that it was her policy not to make personal responses to inmates.

"I would only deal with the concerns at the Ministry level,'' she said.