I came across a song called Funny Old World – I've got sheet music for it and we learn to sing it with my son and a friend. We are not native English speakers and there are some formulations in the lyrics we can't uderstand exactly.

Funny Old World (Jim Boyes)

Here I sit in a prison cell, I can hardly sleep,
far away no chime no bell can pierce the fortress keep.
And God is dead, I saw him die,
and hope was lost like my alibi.
Here I sit in a prison cell, funny old world...

And I miss the fields and the pouring rain,
I miss the corn and the golden grain.
I miss the seas and I miss the storms,
children are born, they don't even know my name.

Here I sit in a prison cell, I can hardly sleep,
far away no chime no bell can pierce the fortress keep.
And God is dead, I saw him die,
and hope was lost like my alibi.
Here I sit in a prison cell, funny old world...

|: Didn't he go like a lamb to the slaughter,
didn't he know it was a waste of time?
The jury were out for an hour and a quarter,
all stitched up by a Thin Blue Line.

Altered notes and false confessions,
a slip of the finger a sleight of hand.
Another try from the Quarter Sessions,
another lie from the witness stand. :|

Here I sit in a prison cell, I can hardly sleep,
far away no chime no bell can pierce the fortress keep.
And God is dead, I saw him die,
and hope was lost like my alibi.
Here I sit in a prison cell, funny old world...

And the rich go free for bigger crimes,
the've got it made, they don't pay no fines.
They live and breath in better times,
and money talks if you read between the lines.

Here I sit in a prison cell, I can hardly sleep,
far away no chime no bell can pierce the fortress keep.
Funny old world...



We do understand it's a kind of a prisoner's lament, saying he's sad and missing all these common things we don't appreciate till we lose them. And it seems he doesn't feel guilty, complaining about false confessions and rich people not being convicted for bigger crimes.
But what does mean the second part of the sentence "The jury were out for an hour and a quarter, all stitched up by a Thin Blue Line."? I've found that "Thin Blue Line" means "police forces" but it doesn't make any sense for me anyway :-(. Also, I don't know what "a slip of the finger a sleight of hand" does mean and the third part that's tricky for me is "Another try from the Quarter Sessions". I've found that "Quarter Sessions" were court sessions held only four times a year, but I can't imagine what "a try" from such as court can be :-(.
Please, can anybody help?