Stephen James Lewis, of Oxley, was sentenced to 12 months' weekend detention in 2008 after he smashed a glass into another man's face, causing serious injuries, after an argument outside Fyshwick Tavern.

But Lewis, who was struggling with alcoholism and his father's ill health, missed a number of his required weekend detention visits.

He moved to Griffith, NSW, to be with his father before he completed his weekend detention, but failed to notify ACT Corrective Services. When he returned, he did not go back to weekend detention.

He said he saw letters at his mother's house from ACT Corrective Services, which he knew likely related to his non-attendance, but threw them in the bin.

The Sentence Administration Board held an inquiry, which Lewis did not attend. The board later cancelled his periodic detention and issued a warrant for his arrest.

The board had repeatedly tried to contact him via mail, but Lewis was interstate and then chose not to open the letters when he returned. He said the board had his phone number but hadn't called.

Lewis was eventually arrested and taken to serve full-time custody in the old Belconnen Remand Centre. He served 82 days before he was freed on bail.

In March 2009, Lewis began proceedings in the ACT Supreme Court to have the Sentence Administration Board's decision ruled invalid and to test whether his detention was lawful.

Justice Richard Refshauge ruled that there was no evidence to prove the board had told Lewis of the hearing date, and said he had been denied natural justice as a result.

He set aside the board's decision, rendering Lewis' detention unlawful.

Lewis took further legal action in the ACT Supreme Court the following year after corrections authorities tried to get him to serve his outstanding sentence.

But a judge found his term of imprisonment had expired, and his obligation to serve periodic detention had ended. Had it not expired, the judge said he would have stayed the rest of his sentence.

The ACT government appealed against that decision, arguing Lewis' sentence had been automatically extended because of his failures to report and he could still be liable to perform periodic detention.

The ACT Court of Appeal last week dismissed that appeal with costs.

Lawyers for the government had argued the court erred in finding Lewis wasn't obliged to serve full-time imprisonment or periodic detention once he'd been released on bail – a requirement the judge said at the time would have been "absurd".

They argued that Lewis's sentence of periodic detention had never been formally stayed and he was still subject to his periodic detention order despite being granted bail in 2009, and his sentence had been extended accordingly.

But Lewis's defence argued he wasn't subject to the order once he was granted bail.

Justice John Burns and Justice Jayne Jagot said an offender could not fail to report for periodic detention if there was no obligation on that person, at the time, to serve the time behind bars.

"The fact that the sentence was not stayed when bail was granted does not alter the fact that, on and from the grant of bail, the respondent was at liberty," the judges said.

Justice Hilary Penfold agreed there were grounds for a permanent stay of Lewis's sentence and periodic detention order.

Among them was the "current unsatisfactory situation" created by the failure of the board to accord procedural fairness to Lewis before cancelling his periodic detention order, and resource shortages in the Supreme Court that caused long delays in finalising his challenge.

"Certainly it was the respondent who initially breached his periodic detention obligations, but he could not have expected that, more than seven years later, periodic detention would have been abolished but the status of his sentence would still be in doubt," she said.

In a separate case before the courts, Lewis is suing the government for unlawful imprisonment and false arrest.

The ACT government announced in 2015 it would abolish periodic detention from July this year.