It would legitimately be the kinder option if Joh had gotten impatient enough with the cats to just throw them all outside. They may struggle to feed themselves and may well fall victim to predators, disease, or the weather, but that still beats the hell out of being slowly cooked to death in their own filth trapped in Polissa's trashed out stank dungeon, fighting each other over morsels of food, water, and lack of territory, with the only thing keeping the population in check being inbreeding depression, disease, and cramped conditions. Outdoor cats can have lives that are brutal and short, but fuck, at least they get to breath clean air and access clean(ish) water, and in miserable or dangerous situations there's a chance they could just fucking leave.
At this point it is unspeakably appalling to nearly fedpost levels that Polissa has the unmitigated gall to even think, let alone use, the word "rescue" when referring to her treatment of these cats in any capacity. It's not easy to make Chantal look like a gold star cat owner, but holy shit, this just might.