“a famous tana had a wicked neighbour, he prayed this man should die and told his wife. she said, be mispallel the neighbour should do teshuva. We never give up no matter what. “
Brachot 10a.
Bruriah told her husband, Rabbi Meir, to pray for the wicked neighbor because, as a yid, the neshamah of the neighbor is pure. It is only outside factors that bring him down. The praying was to eliminate the outside factors and let the true nature of the neshama shine.