Canberra man Cameron Sharp, 21, pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful confinement and making a demand accompanied by a threat earlier this year.

Sharp and his associates, including Barry Avery, 36, and Kyle Musolino, 19, had become involved in a dispute over missing drugs after a coke can of ecstasy went missing at a party on April 8 last year.

They accused a man of stealing the drugs and cash and drove him to a Canberra house where Sharp had punched him in the head.

The man was strapped to a chair using duct tape and Sharp and his co-offenders interrogated the victim about the location of the missing wares.

The victim was also punched by other members of the "gang", before Sharp lifted the man off the ground by placing a baseball bat against his throat.

Avery pierced the victims neck with scissors, before members of the group wrapped a towel across the victim's jaw and water-boarded him.

The ACT Supreme Court heard Sharp had ceased his association with the Comanchero bikie gang and that he had good prospects of rehabilitation and a supportive family.

But Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson also noted the "gratuitously cruel" nature of the offence.

The judge jailed the man for 15 months and set a non-parole period of 10 months.

"What you did to this poor man was appalling, you know that," she told him. "You know what you've done is unacceptable.

"It's just not part of civilised society.

"You're still a young man please do not waste this opportunity, please do not waste your life."

Musolino was jailed for one year and nine months while Avery was jailed for 16 months. The court heard prosecutors were appealing Avery's sentence as too light.

Sharp will be eligible for release in March 2019.