The state may have to pay millions of dollars more in treatment costs for inmates infected with hepatitis C, following a federal judge’s ruling that said prison officials have been “deliberately indifferent” in caring for thousands of inmates infected with the virus.

The ruling could potentially cost the Florida Department of Corrections as much as $20 million more than what it is already paying to treat inmates with the virus, said Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Chairman Jeff Brandes, who recently got a preliminary briefing from the department on the issue.