The first thing that you notice from the movie and makes you think is the fact that it is enough to admit you are guilty (being guilty or not) and you'll be free and if you don't admit it (being guilty or not) you'll stay imprisoned, maybe for good. So, it doesn't really matter if you are guilty or not, if you are dangerous or not, if you feel really sorry or not, if you can do good or bad in future, the only thing that appears to be important is what you say in the right moment to right people.
So the system prefers people to pretend and lie, the system even stimulates people to lie and lie makes them better people in the eyes of the state and law. And the worst person who will never be released free is the one who is not guilty, who was wrongfully accused and doesn't want to lie. (I am not talking about this movie, because Henderson wasn't innocent, but on the other hand his guilt was not as big as his punishment was, having in mind the rest of his group.)
And, as for Freeman (Modine), he is a certain refreshment in the otherwise so often used topic, saving a prisoner sentenced to death or lifetime imprisonment. Usually the heroes are reporters of lawyers, and these characters are either romantic heroes or alcoholics at the end of their career. But while Modine is a refreshment, Henderson is a rip-off of Redding from Shawshank played by Morgan Freeman (is Modine's character name a coincidence or maybe a kind of dedication to King's novel?).
Finally, to answer about redemption: it is easy to say that you've found God and, in a wink of an eye, hey, you have been changed. But changing by the way you live, care for family and friends (like we see Henderson in his relation to Kendall and Desmond), participate in activities of your local community (even if it is a jail) shows more redemption then sitting and pretending to pray to a new-found God. I don't know how much you find it believable and the story plausible, but I'd give a chance to the one who lives his redemption prior to the one who just verbalizes it and (as we have seen in the beginning of my reply) doesn't have to be sincere at all.
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