Continuity mistake: On one occasion when Mr. Weaver leaves the courthouse to walk around the building to look in through the cell window, he goes in a counterclockwise direction. However, when the scene switches he is approaching from a clockwise direction.
Factual error: December 25, 1960 was on Sunday. The calendar in the jail house shows a calendar (which has been used in other episodes) with Christmas Day on a Friday. (01:30:00)
Answer: As noted in the previous answers, in real life, things like this provided wind and/or rain deflection, and also maintained a bit of privacy when blinds were raised somewhat. The interior courthouse set was located in the studio, so the "outside" Main Street didn't exist. I believe these things were added to the courthouse windows for practicality, to avoid some crew movement being visible on the opposite side of those windows. These are not "window boxes" to hold anything, as they're actually bottomless; we can see the Venetian blind's long pull cords under them. They're made of plywood and simple to build, so the "material and labor" was inexpensive. Similar variations made of different materials are in other movies/shows. In 1957's "12 Angry Men," textured chicken wire glass panels are in the jury room windows, and in "Jesse Stone: Night Passage" another type is in Jesse's office windows.
Super Grover ★