On my knees with 25 hardened criminals. This was not how I intended to spend Tuesday morning last week in one of South Africa's most notorious prisons. "That section over there is where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned," says my host, referring to the time Madiba was brought off the Island.Nothing I had ever read about Pollsmoor Prison was positive. Prize-winning books and long essays had been written about the notorious Numbers gangs.You could sometimes await trial for years, by which time an innocent man would have become a criminal in one of the most effective sites for socialising young men into a life of crime. No warden was ever safe: drop your guard for one moment and a sharp object could paralyse or kill you.There is something cruel about such a feared prison in so pastoral a setting, one that is all the more visible on this beautiful morning.And so when this group of recently convicted prisoners with their orange uniforms were told to move that morning, they thought they were being transferred to less attractive prison settings in the rural Western Cape to carry out their long sentences.Except they were coming to pray for a university principal from central South Africa.Mothers and children were already spread across the grass at the entrance to the prison, presumably awaiting visiting hours.The guards were expecting me and - as my car rolled down the long tarred road - a man with a very long shotgun ordered me to stop. And so I waited, somewhat nervously, as a group of prisoners crossed the road from Mandela's section of the prison to what seemed like a series of wooden bunker homes on the other side of the street.I would soon discover that these were my prayer warriors.Joanna Flanders Thomas is an institution in these parts. She runs church services for the inmates and had told me on Facebook how the prisoners had prayed for the university and its principal during the protests this year. I was touched by the fact that a group of men with serious problems of their own would pray for peace and the safety of university staff and students 1000km away.And so, as promised, I came to Pollsmoor to say "thank you" to hardened criminals with hearts open to the plight of others.After a short message of encouragement to inmates, some with Bibles and notepads, I was told that the men wanted to pray for me and that here they prayed on their knees. And so I went down and felt the hands of brothers on my head and shoulders.Those same hands had committed terrible crimes but now they were stretched out to bless.Never before had I heard such earnest, sincere, moving prayers in relay as one prisoner took over where the other left off. The last thing on my mind were my cellphone and wallet in opposing pockets for here I felt safer than anywhere outside of prison.A greeting card was passed around the room for each man to write in. It is a gift I will treasure forever.That day I gained new respect for prison wardens: the way they respected the prisoners and were shown respect in return; their dedication to the spiritual and educational lives of men whose prospects would otherwise be desperately grim; their optimism for the future of long-term prisoners.The evaluation feedback the next day was insightful and encouraging: "He gave me hope that I will leave here."Surely that is our occupation as leaders however our people are imprisoned - whether in jail or in difficult circumstances - to give hope that things will get better...