Thanks, bub. It probably ruffles less feathers to just leave them there. Releasing prisoners on a large scale - as a general concept, regardless of the rationale - makes your average citizen nervous. Let the vocal minority protest and get nowhere. I mean, it's not like justice is a thing; just do whatever meets your ends.
That being said, I never presume to guess at precisely what those ends may be, or what power-mongers will do in the specific. There are too many variables, too many ways to skin a cat, and they're thinking from a vastly different perspective. The one thing we do know, is that whatever they come up with, it will be motivated solely by personal interest, not lofty notions of philosophy, morality or serving the public interest.