Jordan Bailey was born around 1818 in North Carolina. Bailey worked as a laborer and resided in Wake County, North Carolina. Bailey was charged with larceny on August 12, 1878, and sentenced to five years in the North Carolina State Penitentiary. Bailey was recorded in the North Carolina State Penitentiary's Descriptive Register for the Years 1869-1884 as prisoner number 2810. In the descriptive register, Bailey's race is noted as Black. Bailey was sixty years old when he was arrested. Bailey was noted as possessing no formal education, meaning he could not read or write at that time. During his incarceration, Bailey was leased to the Western North Carolina Railroad Company to work on railroad construction. He died while imprisoned on August 19, 1880.