Tiger, a pudgy orange tabby, broke into a maximum-security prison in Westchester County about a decade ago.

Now, he turns his nose up at tuna from the mess hall, but will gladly chow down on tinned tuna inmates buy for him at the commissary. While men lift weights outside, he meanders through the yard, supervising from the picnic table or rubbing up against their legs.

“I think this is the best thing that ever happened to him,” said one inmate, of the cat’s living situation. “He has a family.”

Tiger’s family is an 80-man cell block at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. The tabby is among the last cats of Sing Sing, which once had hundreds of resident felines freely roaming its buildings and grounds. While other prisons have struggled with feline invaders, the position of cats at Sing Sing, where the creatures once had remarkable privileges, was unusual.

Today, fewer than a dozen remain.