lengthy investigation of Kuna Winding

nurse who treated inmates at Cook County Jail is now an inmate herself after authorities said she was caught smuggling drugs to her boyfriend, a reputed high-ranking gang member she met in jail while he awaits trial on double-murder charges.

Authorities said they conducted a lengthy investigation of Kuna Winding after receiving a tip that she smuggled contraband and drugs into the jail while delivering medications to inmates as part of her job duties.

Last week investigators received numerous tips that Winding had smuggled a gun into the jail, prompting the sheriff's office to lock down the entire complex and conduct an exhaustive search of Division 10, the maximum-security unit where her boyfriend is locked up, authorities said. Sheriff's officials concluded the tips were false after no gun was recovered.

But during the search, investigators confronted Winding about smuggling drugs and she allegedly admitted bringing marijuana and Ecstasy to her boyfriend, sheriff's office spokesman Steve Patterson said.