The problem is the drifters Mike Adams claims to have killed lived so far off the grid, there was frequently no compelling evidence, no loved ones clamoring for justice. Sometimes they were just bones in the woods.

And he knows about them, at the very least. Which is why a woman is writing a book about him “and several magazines are coming in,” he told me proudly.

I’ll bet some of you are thinking, why isn’t this guy getting the death penalty?

Detectives across the country would have to make their cases — very tough cases — to ensure he’s just not some wacko out for murder glory.

Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor told me she just wanted Mike Adams locked up and the key thrown away.

I’ll bet some of you are also thinking, why should we give this guy a nice, private or semi-private cell in a Virginia prison where he can “retire” and work on his memoirs?

Friends, that’s just the way it is.

Long gone are the rock-breaking chain gangs sweating under the eye of a cold-hearted cop with a shotgun. No, we don’t parachute them down into al-Qaida camps.

We can’t even make them work at all.