No pious person would ever hope that any soul goes to hell. OTOH, no faithful person would ever want to circumvent God's justice and mercy. That is one purpose of prayer - to beg God's mercy for others who, if they don't change, will be destined for great suffering after death.
If a person hates God, or disbelieves in His existence and thereby lives in defiance of His will, that person already is in hell. How can a person go to the Kingdom of God when he or she hates God or has no faith? The very nature of the Kingdom of God is the place where God is always tangibly present and all who exist there praise, glorify, and serve Him in eternal happiness.
A God hater would hate it there.
Another point to keep in mind is that a person can go through great changes of heart in a short time (such as near death) but old habits die hard.
If someone has developed a habit throughout their life of prayer and dependence on God, that will naturally happen at death. If a person has developed habits of sinful acts and rebellion against God his whole life, it will be very difficult to pray or remember God's mercy, if he has never done it before, and his heart is covered with the hardness that is the result with such a life.
Great answer, little jeremiah. Thanks.