A prison dentist who earned $145,789 in 2008 was the highest paid public employee in Sheboygan County, WI, according to a news story in the Sheboygan Press.
The dentist works at the Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution.
"Providing healthcare in a prison setting presents challenges that are not present in other work environments," said John Dipko, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, in the story. "Several years ago, we had a 20% vacancy rate among our registered nurses, and we're at around 5% [now], and part of the reason is we became more competitive [with wages]."
Positions for dentists are hard to fill, so the stated raised salaries five years ago. The starting salary for a dentist in the prison system is $132,700, the paper reported.
"We do believe the salaries are in line with and competitive to what is paid in the private sector," Dipko told the Sheboygan Press.
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