Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US black) a prison sentence.

1965		C. Brown Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 318: I just got out of Sing Sing. I did three years on a one-to-five bid.
a.1967		‘Sporting Life’ in D. Wepman et al. Life (1976) 163: Just bear in mind that you must do time / Whenever you pull a bone. / So don’t cry in terror when you make an error / Just do your bid and go home.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 184: I can handle my bid.
1998		Source Oct. 30: My records go back to ’89 [...] My first bid was in ’90.
2003		J. Lethem Fortress of Solitude 426: A general attitude of take your bid and do it, no unnecessary beefs.
2008		R. Price Lush Life 24: Half of them got snatched up by RICO for long bids, the other hallf is dead .
2011		G. Hayward Corruption Officer [ebk] cap. 44: As for this bid, I am finished. They got me red-handed for murdering this kid over a year ago.
2020		S.A. Crosby Blacktop Wasteland 135: He had a cushy job in the prison laundry [...] It was like he was on a vacation instead of doing a bid.