They are the squalid, inhumane jail conditions for asylum seekers that the Australian Immigration Department does not want anyone to see.

For more than 48 hours, a group of frightened asylum seekers suspected of breaking out of the detention centre was caged in a cell at the PNG police station in Lorengau, the main town on Manus, in shocking conditions.

The six men were incarcerated in a metal cage about 15 square metres with murderers, rapists and drunks who had either just been arrested or were serving their time in the cage, which is the only jail on the island.

Also on Friday, a witness revealed the man who died during violent clashes on Manus Island on Monday evening had suffered a cut to the neck.