The head of Oregon’s public defender system was fired Thursday morning, after a years-long struggle to fix the shortage of defense attorneys across the state.

Gov. Tina Kotek fired Jessica Kampfe, who ran Oregon’s Public Defense Commission, the governor’s office confirmed Thursday. The OPDC provides attorneys to defendants who cannot afford an attorney when facing criminal charges.

“It is unacceptable that more than 4,000 defendants in Oregon do not have attorneys assigned,” Kotek said in a statement. “The public defense crisis poses an urgent threat to public safety and delays justice for victims.”

In her place, Kotek appointed Ken Sanchagrin, the executive director of the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission. Sanchagrin will serve as interim director.

Sanchagrin has a tough road ahead of him. Kotek said the commission needs to address a lack of public defenders across the state, as well as increase financial transparency and create a timeline for when that shortage will end.

Oregon has faced a shortage of public defenders for years, which has slowed down criminal proceedings across the state.

The crisis has alarmed attorneys on the other side of the courtroom. Washington County District Attorney Kevin Barton and neighboring Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez told lawmakers in March that the situation was critical.

“This is one of, if not the biggest, public safety threats that we’re currently facing — the inability for our system to function,” Barton told lawmakers. “This has become a real challenge.”

Under Oregon law, if a person in jail cannot secure a lawyer, they must be released from custody after 10 days.

Fewer attorneys and a backlog of cases have slowed the system to a crawl, Barton said.

About 45% of currently unrepresented defendants in Oregon come from Multnomah and Washington counties.

This is a developing story and will be updated.