I'd say high on drugs, there is no way of removing tape from a cat with it being awake, regardless of how many people are trying to hold it.
Now if the intended recipients had caught the cat, they wouldn't have had any sedatives, so I'd guess they would have had to kill it.

They had to sedate it to safely remove the earmites.

". The cat belonged to the prisoners and was frequently taken by relatives to their homes, returning to the prison on its own."

I'm guessing that any inmate who would harm that cat would recive a horrific collective punishment from it's fellows.

Friday night out?