Franklin County adopts PIVOT pretrial pilot to provide intensive services to select felony defendants

Franklin County on Sept. 30 approved a $150,000 subgrant to launch PIVOT, a pilot pretrial program intended to provide intensive services to certain nonviolent felony defendants to reduce recidivism and improve court compliance.

Melissa Pearson, interim director of the Franklin County Office of Justice Policy and Programs, introduced the proposal as a pilot to bolster pretrial supervision and connect individuals to housing, employment, mental-health and other supports. She said the county will test whether providing more intensive services before case disposition reduces repeated arrests and jail stays.

A court representative who spoke about the program described a case study of an 18-year-old charged with improperly handling a firearm. The presentation said PIVOT will focus on lower-level felony offenders (F4 and F5) who do not face mandatory prison terms, and will enroll small cohorts: one program manager overseeing up to 12 participants at a time. Program participation will include court-ordered pretrial supervision, urine screening, curriculum-based interventions (including a nationally used “thinking errors” program), and individualized meetings with a program manager. The presenter emphasized PIVOT is…