Phelan is not a 'Good Guy' he stood by while Michael died and did nothing to help him. He is only still on The Street because Vinny was the 'Bad Guy' that run off with the money and he managed to persuade people that Vinny had conned him also. He thought he had killed Andy until he re-gained consciousness. I think he has only kept him alive because he does not know how to get rid of the body. He was going to release Andy, but pretended to crash the van while taking Andy to France and Andy ran off so when Phelan recaptured him, he decided he could not trust him, so put him back in the cellar. Andy has persuaded Phelan that if they find a replacement who sees Andy's face but not Phelan's then Phelan can let him go as he will not be able to go to the police without dropping himself in it. - Crazy I know but do not think logic should get in way of a good/stupid plot. Even though Andy is chained in cellar I do not understand why he does not hit Phelan over the head with a heavy object. I am quite sure he could pull the chain fixing from the wall if he worked on it.