If the 50 states were each independent countries, Alabama's rate of incarceration would be the fifth-highest of any nation in the world.

That's one finding in a new study of global incarceration rates conducted by the Prison Policy Initiative.

Alabama's rate of incarceration - at 987 people in jail or prison for every 100,000 people - dwarfs those of every nation around the globe, including those of troubled countries like Iraq, Cuba and Syria.

The state's incarceration rate even far exceeds that of the world's most-incarcerated nation, the U.S., which has 693 people behind bars for every 100,000 people, according to the study.

Alabama is far from the only jail-happy state in the South, though. Washington, D.C. imprisons a higher proportion of its population than any other state, country or territory at a whopping 1,196 people per 100,000. But Louisiana and Georgia aren't far behind, with 1,143 incarcerated people per 100,000 and 1,004 incarcerated people per 100,000, respectively.

"Louisiana has been called 'the world's prison capital. The state imprisons more of its people, per head, than any of its U.S. counterparts. First among Americans means first in the world,'" the study states. "But in the global context, how far behind are the other 49 states, really? This report finds that the disturbing answer is "'Not very far.'"

Even the least-incarcerating U.S. states far outpace the vast majority of the world's nations when it comes to incarceration rates.

"The two U.S. states that incarcerate the least are Vermont and Massachusetts, but if those states became independent nations, they would rank as the 11th and 12th greatest users of incarceration on the planet," the study states.

"So while a handful of nations with recent social and political traumas have incarceration rates that are similar to our least punitive states, the rich stable countries that this nation considers its peers have incarceration rates five to ten times lower than the United States does."