To the bedside or correctional facility?

Hi fellow nurses, I graduated in May 2011 and attained RN license in June. I in Dallas TX and have to relocate due to extremely saturated market. I have a prospective position as an RN at a corrections facility that starts out, even new grads. at 30/hr. I will be waiting for the background-security clearance to go through for at least five more weeks. My dilemma is, I also have some hospitals calling and wanting to interview me via phone. Let us say that I am offered a position at one of these hospitals within one or two weeks from now, yet the corrections job is still involved in background clearance. What am I to do. Do I wait for the corrections job and take a gamble on not being offered the position, and decline the hospital/bedside position? Or, if a hospital offers me a position before the background clearance is completed at correctional facility, do I take hospital job and forget about corrections? I am almost 40 and I really love the psychiatric aspect of correctional nursing. I would love to eventually go into psychiatric nursing and research. Not only that, but bedside nursing /hospital nursing here in TX would start out at around 21-25/hr. and correctional facility starts at 30. If I were much younger I would say that I should start at the bedside, and then after a few years go into corrections and psychiatry, but I need to keep in mind that I need to make smart career decisions right now. I need feed back and input from you guys! I really appreciate any feedback
Hmm. After reading your post -it sounds like you answered your question. You seem to be really leaning toward the correction job -go for it. Do what you think you will like -plus better pay. Hospital floor nursing isn't for everyone -esp if you are interested in psych/research.