Shocking footage of an inmate strangling a guard at a Florida jail before other prisoners battled to save him has been released.

Surveillance cameras spotted Douglas Burden, 24, charging at 64-year-old Kenneth Moon in Orient Road Jail, Tampa.

Mr Moon was the sole guard in a prison block that houses 62 inmates, when Burden pounced, Central Florida News 13's website said.

The attacker quickly swung an arm around the jailer's neck, put the older man in a choke hold and started strangling him.

Jerry Dieguez Jr, detained over an armed home invasion charge, was the first rescuer to reach Burden and hit him with a "haymaker" punch, according to Tampa Bay Online (TBO).

The blow sent all three men crashing to the ground.

Two more inmates, an alleged killer and a man accused of drug trafficking, then helped prise Burden's arm off Mr Moon's throat, before another prisoner radioed for help.

Guards eventually restrained the attacker, who has been held since March 14 over driving and drug trafficking charges.

The prisoners who stopped Burden were credited with saving their jailer's life.

"Their past acts aside, you know, you've got to applaud them for what they did," Jim Previtera, of Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, told TBO.

He said Mr Moon was in a martial arts-style choke hold that "cuts off the blood supply and, if it's applied properly, can actually crush the windpipe or the trachea".

The sheriff's office is to send letters to the rescuers' lawyers to be used in court on the inmates' behalf.

Prison guard Anthony Brown said: "You would think that they would walk away, so somewhere in their hearts, there must be some goodness."

Burden is facing a new charge of battery on a law enforcement officer, following Monday's attack.

What a stupid crim that attacked the guard.

Drug trafficking and driving, pffft... good behaviour and he would have got 5-7 years.

Now, he's assaulted a guard and faces an extra 10 years. Way to go, moron.