In the U k you can visit the multiple murderer Peter Sutcliffe in prison and embrace him as a brother.... now he claims repentance and is a baptised j w .
Come to think of it, I have visited dubs and interested ones in prison , doing "life" for murder and long stretches for serious violence. That was back in the day when we had a max security prison in the territory . NB they were surprisingly personable individuals, to us at least . ....
As O.P says, I would not have spoken to some hapless soul at the K H , repentant after smoking a cigar.... I was as blind as the rest of them.