Video: Florida prison inmates break into car to rescue baby

A work crew of prison inmates in Florida has been praised for helping to rescue a baby locked in a car.

The one-year-old girl was trapped in the SUV after her parents accidentally closed the door with the keys still inside in a car park in New Port Richey, around 40 miles north-west of Tampa, on Thursday.

Sheriff’s deputies called to the scene advised the girl’s parents to call a locksmith, but the couple said they could not afford to do so, NBC reports.

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As the child’s father prepared to smash the car’s window to free her, the family were offered a helping hand from an unusual source - inmates from the local penitentiary.

The work gang had been maintaining grass verges in the car park when they noticed the family in distress and offered their assistance.

The girl’s mother began filming the rescue operation on her phone, as one of the prisoners fashioned a hook from a coat hanger.

Several other inmates, clad in black and white stripes, are then seen prying the car door open just wide enough to insert the wire.

“After a few minutes of careful finagling, the inmates were able to press the button to unlock the vehicle’s doors” and reunite the unharmed child with her parents, Fox reports.

“Thank God for the criminals in the world. I respect all y'all,” the girl’s mother, Shadow Lantry, says at the end of the video, which has been viewed more than 60,000 times on Facebook.

A sheriff's office spokesman said the prisoners were trustees - low-risk inmates who receive extra privileges, such as the right to carry out supervised work outside the prison walls.

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco thanked the work gang, particularly the inmate who put his lock-picking skills to a noble use.

“There's only a very small percentage of those criminals out there that want to fight us and want to attack us, but a lot of them, like these individuals, they know they made bad mistakes, bad choices, but they want to do the right thing in life,” he said.