Dr. Robert H. Felix, who was then director of the National Institute of Mental Health and a major figure in the shift to community centers, says now on reflection: ''Many of those patients who left the state hospitals never should have done so. We psychiatrists saw too much of the old snake pit, saw too many people who shouldn't have been there and we overreacted. The result is not what we intended, and perhaps we didn't ask the questions that should have been asked when developing a new concept, but psychiatrists are human, too, and we tried our damnedest.''
1984 New York Times - HOW RELEASE OF MENTAL PATIENTS BEGAN
So the answer is no. President Reagan did release a lot of them after being pushed by public opinion demanding the release of these insane people, but the push started years before he became President.